A Good Man Goes to War
by ygbsm
Summary: Chuck has returned home for his annual birthday bash. When his ex-friend Bryce sends him an email he gets more than he bargained for. The CIA and NSA send their best to retrieve the information, but all is not what it seems, Chuck is definitely not the nerd they were looking for and even "demons run when a good man goes to war."
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: This is going to be a reimagining from the pilot episode on. If you're looking for cannon you're in the wrong place. To steal a line from JT, no beta's were harmed in the publishing of this story, all mistakes are mine. _

_Standard disclaimers apply: I don't own Chuck, 'cause if I did there'd have been more consistency and less memory loss. I'm making no money at this. Probably for very good reason, you have been warned._

* * *

'Things don't look all that different,' thought Chuck as he walked through the courtyard toward his sister's apartment. Granted it had only been 6 months since his last visit but he's always surprised by the fact that no matter what crazy turns his own life took, Ellie's life and home seemed remarkably stable. 'Time to face the music.'

His knock is interrupted by a high pitched squeal from inside the apartment. "Yep, Ellie's home." he chuckled to himself.

"You're here," his sister shouted as the door opened and he barely had time to drop his black duffle bag as she dragged him into a bone crushing hug. "It's great to see you little brother."

"Hey I know what kind of trouble I get into if I don't show up so you can throw the annual meet my brother birthday bash," he replied smiling down. "Although I don't know why you bother bringing in all the single women you know, I'm only going to be here for a couple of weeks and then it's back to St. Louis for me."

"She does it in the hope that someday you'll find a girl and bring her home just to keep her from throwing more of her friends and coworkers at you," called her tall sandy haired boyfriend as he dismounted his exercise bike and walked over. "Or I suppose the opposite. It's possible she's hoping to get you to fall head over heels in love with a local girl, drop everything and move back to Burbank."

"Hi Captain," Chuck answered back, shaking his hand. "How's the workout?"

"Awesome!" Devon replied with a huge smile.

"You ask him stuff like that just to get him to say that word don't you?" Ellie fake pouted as Chuck picked up his bag again and she led him into the apartment.

"Well yeah, it's not like he doesn't expect it," Chuck replied as he and Devon shared a fist bump. "Plus it's our thing."

"And for the record I'd take either result," Ellie said with a smirk.

"So how's the job going bro?" Devon asked smiling. "Still making big money as a consultant to the Defense Department? Not that I can figure out what part of the Defense Department is based out of St. Louis," he questioned as he walked into the kitchen to get a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Actually that's where the contractors I work with are based. We do work for a bunch of different agencies including the DOD," replied Chuck easily dropping his bag again and sitting on the couch. "Obviously I can't talk about what I do, but it's not like it's clandestine or anything."

"Right, which is good because if you were doing anything dangerous I'd have to beat the hell out of you," Ellie said with a completely serious face, as she sat next to him giving him a shoulder bump.

"Oh come on Ellie, I could totally be running around the world saving the day, rescuing damsels in distress and generally being an all around badass." Chuck quipped.

"Right Chuck," said Ellie with a smirk on her face. "It's more likely you'd be making escapes running for your life as your partner did all the heavy lifting and your girlish screams echoed through the streets causing the bad guys to laugh too hard to keep up."

"Et tu Ellie? Et tu?" complained Chuck as he placed one hand over his chest and the other straight out in a slightly ridiculous bout of overacting.

"I know you Chuck. You may not be the clumsy stick you were in high school, but a real life Jason Bourne? I don't think so."

"Forget Jason Bourne, I'd rather be Han Solo. Drop in whisk the princess away in my starship leaving the evil Empire sucking my dust."

"Nerd," smiled Ellie.

"And still proud of it," Chuck said airily. "So when are we lighting this candle?"

"The party starts in 6 hours so you have time to unpack, clean up, and help me and Devon with some last minute details and a trip to the liquor store."

"That's my queue to head for the shower," Devon piped in. "Care to join me babe?"

"Devon, ewww, that's my sister, I can't unhear that!" Chuck cringed.

"Just go get unpacked Chuck," Ellie told him as they both stood up. "You know where your room is. We'll try to keep the screaming down to spare your sensibilities," she added with a mischievous grin.

"Ok, that was just piling on honey," Devon chuckled.

"You two are just evil!" complained Chuck as he grabbed his bag again and made a beeline for the door to the guest room and the relative safety therein, followed by the laughter of his sister and her partner in crime.

After closing the door Chuck took a minute to sit on the bed staring off into space. "No Ellie, you knew me." He said with a slightly wistful look before he got up again and started unpacking.

* * *

Later that day...

The non-descript office building seemed to shake as an explosion tore through the sub-basement causing unnoticed security stations to spew heavily armed personnel dressed in black fatigues and heavy body armor carrying identical M4 carbines. In the midst of the confusion almost unnoticed an athletic man in a bloody shirt dropped from the roof and made a run for the perimeter while fiddling with an electronic device of some sort in his hands. That is until he's hit in the chest by a gunshot that threw him backwards to the ground as the sound echoed through the open area.

"Freeze," an older man holding a smoking gun barked sarcastically as he walked up to the prone figure.

"You're too late Casey," the man gasped as he pushed the send button on his device which flashed "Sent to Chuck" after a few seconds then spit flame as it fell from the now lifeless fingers.

* * *

Chuck stood by the fountain in the middle of the courtyard looking out over the crowd. He couldn't help but smile. There was his sister hanging on Devon not quite 3 sheets to the wind talking animatedly to a group of her friends. Various groups stood around enjoying each other's company. 'This is what it's all about,' he thought a frown temporarily breaking through his good mood to quickly vanish as his old friend Morgan started heading his way after managing to get shot down by yet another attractive woman. 'He's nothing if not persistent.' "Hey Morgan, doesn't appear to be your night buddy," he said with a smile to take some of the sting out of the observation.

"Yeah well I haven't been slapped yet so I must be doing alright," Morgan commented as he walked up to his much taller and less hairy friend.

"Buddy we need to work on what you're using as a definition of 'doing alright.'" Chuck said making air quotes. "I do not think it means what you think it means."

"Princess Bride," Morgan nodded knowingly. "Excellent use of the quote, I salute you," he finished taking a swig of his beer. "The fact remains that given my history not getting slapped is a valid measurement of success."

"Okaaayy… I've decided that I really don't want to know," said Chuck with a slight shudder.

"Probably for the best," responded Morgan. "So how goes your own honey search?"

"Really, 'honey search' I'm starting to understand the slapping thing. For your information, I have successfully conversed with several of Ellie's eligible friends; however I'm not currently looking for a relationship with somebody over a thousand miles away from where I currently live."

"So completely shot down then," Morgan said with a commiserating smile.

"Actually no, but I did mean what I said and one night stands were never my thing, you know that," stated Chuck.

"I always thought the one night stand thing was simply lack of opportunity, not a specific life choice. You're scaring me a little bit here." Morgan said with a look of mock horror on his face. "So shall we sneak away and play some COD?"

"Nah, we can do that when I'm a thousand miles away, plus I'm pretty sure Ellie would kill me if I tried to sneak out of my own party," Chuck said motioning toward his tipsy sister with his beer. "Besides, how often do I get to hang with my best friend at a party these days? So, you're going to a desert island, what kind of sandwich do you take?"

* * *

Chuck finally sat on his bed after the party and the cleanup. He and Awesome had sent Ellie to bed after finding out that once again Morgan had spiked the punch and Ellie had fallen victim. Chuck didn't envy her the headache that was coming, but he was pretty sure Morgan deserved what was coming to him as a result. 'I need to make sure I'm around for that confrontation or there might be blood.' He smiled at the memories of the evening. 'Definitely worth the trip.' He looked over at his laptop sitting on his old desk from high school. Probably should check the email quick before going to bed. He stood up went over and sat at the desk logging through the screen lock and pulling up his email account.

'What the hell' he thought as he saw that Bryce Larkin had sent him an email. As he'd had nothing to do with the douche since his supposed friend tried to get him kicked out of Stanford followed by sleeping with his then girlfriend, it confused him as to why he'd be getting an email. Didn't even say 'Happy Birthday sorry I screwed you over.' All it had was a .zrk attachment, which was weird. He had to log into one of the secure servers to find the program required to run it and an operating system instance that would. Once he'd transferred the file to his server and ran it, it dropped him in the middle of the game facing a troll. 'Attack troll with nasty knife' he typed from memory and hit enter.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, and followed. You guys bring a smile to my face, which was totally a surprise._

_Some more character building here, more with Ellie, Awesome, and Morgan, with a not so surprise visitor right at the end. Please no pitchforks or burning torches, we're just getting started here folks. _

_As before, no betas were harmed in the writing of this chapter, and if you're looking for cannon I suggest the U.S.S. Wisconsin in Norfolk VA._

_Standard disclaimers apply: I don't own Chuck if I had there would have been more bikini clad Sarah scenes, maybe with machine guns. (Wait, did I say that out loud?)_

_Here's chapter two, enjoy._

* * *

Chuck woke up the next day still sitting in front of his laptop. "Not a good way to start the day," he muttered as he stood up and went in search of some aspirin to quiet the little man with the sledgehammer that was beating on his eyeballs. After downing four he turned on the radio and took a shower letting the hot water wash over his head in an attempt to drown the little man. After about 10 minutes he began to feel more himself. The radio was going on about traffic patterns. He sat down at his laptop for a few minutes to check the road he was going to take that morning. He finished his shower got dressed and walked out into the kitchen to grab some cereal.

What he found was rather unexpected. Ellie seeming to be feeling no pain and was making pancakes and humming to herself as Devon was once again on the exercise bike pedaling like he was being chased, the concept of which caused Chuck to giggle a bit.

"What's so funny bro?" Devon asked still pounding away on the stationary bike's pedals.

"You're working so hard on that bike it occurred to me it looked like you were being chased, then I thought for a moment about what would be chasing a stationary bike, which I figure would be tiny porcelain dogs, so of course I had to imagine what that would look like. Hence the giggle," said Chuck still with a smile on his face. "Which now brings me to my real question, why do both of you look so chipper? I know I drank less than the two of you and I had a pretty bad headache, how come neither of you seem to?"

"Look over in the corner." Devon nodded in the direction he meant.

Looking over in the corner he noticed two IV stands that were waiting to be put into the closet. When he walked over to the garbage can he noticed two empty saline bags and two smaller bags containing some sort of electrolyte solution. "Ok, that's cheating," he said.

"What's the point of being a doctor if you can't treat your own hangovers? It's not like we used any controlled drugs or anything, that's just saline and electrolytes." Ellie entered the conversation and the room carrying a platter of pancakes which she placed on the already set table. "That's also the only reason Morgan will still be breathing at the end of the day. I'm thinking about taking some of the remaining punch into the lab to see what the heck he put in it. Breakfast's ready guys."

They all sat down at the table and dug in. After a few minutes of nothing but sounds of eating Ellie broke the silence, "What are your plans for the day Chuck? Devon and I both have to work so you've got the place all to yourself although I'd recommend getting out and doing something instead."

"Got it covered El," Chuck smiled. "First I'm taking Morgan to work, I promised I'd let him drive my car. Then I thought I'd head out to the beach or maybe the pier for a few hours, and then I figured I'd come home and make dinner for you. Chicken with balsamic glaze sound good?"

"Ok first, you're letting Morgan drive your car to work? The rental company is not going to be happy with that."

"That's ok, it's not a rental. The guys in transport owed me a favor so instead of flying out here commercial I took a C5 that was making the trip anyway and there was plenty of room left to bring my Charger. If you want I'll take you guys out in it later."

"You've got a Charger?" asked Devon now paying very close attention. "What year?"

"Well it looks like a '69," Chuck replied with a smile. "But I made some special modifications myself… It's not exactly stock. The power plant is a generator, and the drive train is 4 motor-in-wheel electrics for all wheel drive. The eco-freaks might be happy with it, but I did it for performance. Let's just say I haven't run into anything it won't beat off the line including performance motorcycles."

"And you're going to let Morgan drive it?" his sister said with real horror showing on her face.

"I'm not stupid. It's completely adjustable. When Morgan drives it, it's going to feel like a regular, well ok, underpowered for Morgan, Charger. I can tune it from full on rocket car, down to Prius levels of performance and everything in between. I can even adjust the ride height, change out the wheels and take it off-road if the fancy strikes. I did the design and build myself, although the testing cycle was the most fun. Ever been off-roading on sand dunes at 100 mph? Now that's an adrenaline rush."

"Awesome, I'm an adrenaline junky and the concept of that scares the crap out of me. You so have to take me out in it." Now Devon was practically bouncing in place while Ellie's look of horror went up a few levels.

"Don't worry I'm here for 2 weeks we'll get around to it. I have to get going though. Have fun at the hospital… Ok, I know I just said that but it's so wrong I don't even know what the heck I was saying."

Ellie's smile returned, "Don't worry about it little brother, although I admit we usually use work instead of the hospital. It's way less creepy. And chicken with balsamic glaze is fine, but really you could just order a pizza and we'd probably be just as happy."

"I'll keep both in mind," he replied as he walked out the door.

Chuck walked through the courtyard to the parking lot and up to his jet black Charger. He grabbed the door handle causing the onboard computer to read his fingerprints and unlock the driver side door and enable the powertrain. 'Once a nerd always a nerd,' he thought as he slipped behind the wheel. He pulled on the 4 point harness and settled into the driver's seat. After running his hands over the wheel he reached over under the stereo and pulled out a touch sensitive flat screen display. He spent about a minute reconfiguring the performance settings on the car and saved the settings under the title Morgan so it would only take a few seconds to reset again if he wanted. He then put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking space, heading to his little bearded friend's house. 'Morgan you have got to move out of your mother's house you're 27' he thought as he pulled away.

* * *

Less than 5 minutes later he pulled up to Morgan's to find his friend sitting on the curb waiting for him. Chuck got out of the car and closed the door. "Hey little buddy, ready to go to work?" The look on Morgan's face when he pulled up was priceless. 'I probably should have told him what kind of car it was, but honestly this is too funny.'

After a second Morgan shook himself and snapped his jaw closed. "You rented a Charger?"

"Actually it's worse than that," Chuck joked. "I own it. Some guys in transport owed me a favor so I flew out with it."

"What kind of favor did you do that you convinced them to fly your car to California?" the look of disbelief if anything actually got worse.

"That I can't tell you buddy, it's work related."

"Come-on Chuck you can tell me," pleaded Morgan.

Chuck's face changed from joking to serious. "No Morgan, actually I can't." He paused a minute making sure Morgan wasn't going to continue his pleading. Once he determined Morgan had taken him seriously he smiled again. "Ok Morgan, you drive. Just stay off the 5 the police are in a phased… Just stay off the 5." Chuck walked around to the passenger door.

"Ok Ponch," Morgan quipped as he walked up to the driver side door and grabbed the handle. When nothing happened he looked up at his taller friend. "Can you unlock it? I mean you never stepped away from the car and you locked it. They have a lot of crime where you live?"

"Actually no, it's automatic, one of the modifications I made to it. Just a second." He reached forward and grabbed the door handle this time causing both doors to unlock. They both opened their doors and got in.

Morgan sat down and his eyes got even bigger, if that were possible, and his jaw dropped open again. Chuck couldn't keep from laughing. "Yeah it's not exactly stock. In fact it's about as far from stock as it's possible to be and still look like it does."

Morgan once again snapped his jaw shut and Chuck showed him how the four point restraints worked. "Ok little buddy let's go."

"Um, where's the key Chuck? I can't figure out how to start it."

"There isn't one. When I got in the systems came online, all you have to do is put it in gear and hit the accelerator. "

"Really?" Morgan asked as he did exactly that. The car pulled smoothly away from the curb with the sound of the engine coming to life. "That is so cool. What's under the hood? A Hemi?" He tromped down on the accelerator and a disappointed look came over his face as he wasn't plastered against the seat."

"Actually it's a hybrid of sorts," was Chuck's reply. "The drivetrain is all electric with a generator to extend range. It's not shooting us through a brick wall right now because I figured you'd do what you just did and turned down the performance. I'm not looking to die in a horrible wreck today. After you've driven it for a bit we'll see if I'm comfortable letting you have a bit more performance out of it."

"You know me so well," Morgan smiled. "I can't blame you for that I suppose. Maybe later if you're driving you can show me what it can really do?"

"Well at least some of it." They drove the rest of the way chatting about Morgan's job and the horror that was the BuyMore.

"Cool, we're here," Morgan said as he pulled into the Buy More plaza.

"Ok, just find a parking spot, I'll come in and look around for a few minutes before heading out to the beach or maybe the pier."

Morgan parked the car and the two of them got out and headed toward the entrance. As they crossed the parking lot, Chuck happened to notice a stunning blonde in a Porsche Boxter convertible pulling into a parking spot that had just opened up. 'Damn she's beautiful,' he thought before following his friend into the store.

* * *

Agent Sarah Walker drove past her mark and pulled into a parking spot in front of some big box store with a huge BuyMore sign over the door. She'd followed Chuck Bartowski from his sister's apartment after the tracer she tried to put on the car refused to stay attached no matter what she did to it. She'd have to talk to tech ops later to find out what moron gave her a dud tracking unit.

She'd seen his short bearded friend head into the store, and now it appeared Mr. Bartowski was going to follow him in. 'This could be the perfect way to make contact,' she thought. 'Play the dumb blonde in need of help and get him to let me in. I own this.'

* * *

_A/N 2: Ok, yes I know almost two whole chapters before Sarah even makes an appearance and then I cut it short. And to make matters worse absolutely no action in either one of them. Just bear with me folks. Sarah aplenty next time. (That sounded dirtier than I thought it would.) Bullets flying may take a few more._


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Thanks once again to everybody who's favorited, followed and especially reviewed. Special thanks goes to Uplink2 who's comment from the last chapter made me rethink this one and add part of the scene back in._

_So I've moved around the BuyMorons some. Not all will be working for the BuyMore, but bit characters will remain bit characters._

_I'm also playing around with POV as sort of an experiment here. Hopefully it won't be too confusing because some of what I'm doing later is going to depend on things one or the other character won't be involved in._

_Standard disclaimers apply, I don't own Chuck if I did Pink Slip would never have happened, and I mentioned more Sarah in bikinis last time right? (Still have to figure out how to work that into this story) If you're looking for cannon, might I recommend the U.S. Army Field Artillery Museum at Ft. Sill OK. (Yes I do know the spellings are different.)_

* * *

Morgan went to punch in and Chuck headed over to the IPhone accessories section to look over the latest add-ons. As he got to the right aisle his phone rang. He fiddled with his phone for a bit then answered, "Hello."

"Hey Chuck it's Anna," came from the voice on the other end of the line. "Just thought you should know the CIA and NSA are both running searches on you. In fact I have indications that they've both sent agents to observe you, but at this point that's all I've got. The boss is going to talk to some folks and try and figure out what the interest is, but given your report from last night I think we all know what it's about."

"Yeah, why on earth that idiot decided to send that monster email to me I have no idea. I guess I'm kind of glad he did all things considered. I really could do without the attention this is going to draw though, especially since I'm home on vacation. The timing stinks. How complicated is this likely to get?"

"No idea Chuck, the boss is working on it, she's talked to her boss, and that man really wasn't pleased. I'm expecting some fallout, not sure what yet. I'll get back to you when we know more."

"Ok, if they approach me what do I do?" Chuck asked after a second. He'd been following the stunning blonde with his eyes as she entered the store looking around; when she saw him for a second recognition flashed on her face then it was immediately covered with a disinterested expression as she started to the Nerd Herd desk. It took him a moment and then realization set in. 'Oh crap.'

"Hopefully that won't be a problem since the boss is currently on the phone with the CIA director and the NSA is next. If it comes down to it tell them you're a US Marshal and since neither one has operational authority inside the borders they do not have authority to bring you in, and if they get pushy you're authorized to arrest them for violation of U.S. law. As to what we're going to do about the fact that this is compromising your family's security situation? That we're still working on it."

"Great, talk to security and see if they can spare a team to cover me and my sister." The blonde reacted to the smarmy guy behind the counter and apparently thinking better of approaching him and then seemed to arbitrarily head his way. Actually looking at the guy behind the counter, it might not have been acting.

"Already done, Skip is inbound with a detail. They'll pick up your sister and her boyfriend at the hospital and you wherever you are."

"Great, you mentioned there were agents in the area. Is one of them a hot leggy blonde?"

"Well the pictures are already on your phone, but yeah the CIA agent is why?" Anna asked.

"Tell the boss to have the CIA director call his agent and stand her down, she's walking over to me right now."

"Craptastic, I'm on it," Anna responded with renewed urgency, and he could hear her already conferring with someone else.

* * *

Sarah walked into the store doing a quick scan just like she'd been taught at the farm when she started, or for that matter when she was casing a place for her father. 'It's amazing what crosses over in the skill set of a spy.'

She paused as she located the mark, her mask slipping a bit when she looked at him, well at least he was good looking, probably smiled a lot. 'I'd like to see his smile, too bad he looks so serious with whoever he's on the phone with,' she thought. 'Wait, where the hell did that come from? Get your head in the game Walker.'

Her disinterested mask slipped back into place as she decided the best play was to start approaching the desk and pretend to chicken out of having to talk to whoever was manning it. She started over toward the service desk, and realized that she might not have to act about the chickening out part. She'd been shot, stabbed, and tortured, and nothing she'd faced scared her quite as much as the smarmy guy and the stoned guy behind the service counter. She gave an uncontrolled shudder and decided to head back toward the cute mark. 'Wait, when did he become cute?'

* * *

The blonde was about to get into earshot when Anna came back on the phone, "She'll be getting a call in about 2 minutes to let her know to stand down. She'll be staying and providing and I quote 'additional protection' to guarantee your, and the information's, security."

"Ok, thanks for calling," Chuck changed the conversation as the blonde was now close enough to hear him speak. This was annoying because that last statement didn't make any sense. "I've got to go, I'm going to have some additional questions when I get back, but what we talked about should do it for now."

"Understood, try not to do anything stupid," with that the line went dead.

Chuck pulled the phone away from his ear and smiled at the beautiful woman that had just walked up to him. She was around 5'10" with piercing blue eyes. "Work," he said indicating the phone and smiled at her. "I'm out for 2 weeks, and they couldn't get through the first day without calling me. Go figure."

"Well, I suppose it's good to be needed," the blonde said with a smile that seemed to light up the whole store.

"Chuck Bartowski," he said holding out his hand.

"Sarah Walker," she replied taking it.

Chuck felt an almost electric connection when their hands met. From the slightly startled look in her eyes she had too. Neither could seem to pull their gaze off the other.

"So what brings you into this wonderful establishment?" he joked.

"Well, I'm new in town and my phone stopped working so I thought I'd bring it in and have the geeks here take a look at it. But then I noticed the guys at the desk so I thought I'd hang out over here for a minute and see if somebody else comes up that I can talk to," Sarah said indicating the rather smarmy looking Indian man and the older balding man with hair looking like it hadn't been combed in the last decade that were even then looking at her with entirely inappropriate glints in their eyes.

"Normally I'd correct you and tell you it's nerds, but in their case they may actually have bitten the heads off of chickens in a roadside carnival so I'll let it pass." He wasn't actually sure he was joking. "Tell you what, let me take a look at it; I'm pretty decent with electronics. I can at least tell you whether it's something easy or something the so called professionals," he stopped and shuddered for dramatic effect, "need to look at it." He held out his hand for her phone, which she placed in his palm.

'"Ah the Intellicell these actually are something I know quite well." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a utility tool. Flipping out the small screwdriver, he popped the cover off the back and started tightening the battery. "There's a screw here in the back that tends to work loose and disconnects the battery on the secure government models. But you knew that already didn't you Agent Walker." He left that hanging for a second. The look of surprise on her face would have been priceless if he couldn't also see her thinking about pulling a weapon on him. "Easy Sarah, if I may call you that. I know why you're here, and rest assured the data is in a secure location and our bosses are even now trying to figure out how to deal with the mess that bastard Larkin left us. You're going to be getting a call oh right about now," he completed his statement as the now reassembled phone in his hand began to ring. He handed it over to her, "This should be your director."

* * *

Sarah took the phone looked at the caller ID seeing that it was indeed Director Graham and with a stunned glance at Chuck answered, "Walker secure but in public. Sir I'm standing next to the target and he knows things he shouldn't."

"Sarah, he isn't a target, he's apparently a US deputy Marshal which technically makes him more legal and official than you are," came the director's voice over the phone. "I've just received a call from the National Security Advisor and the head of a highly classified division of the US Marshal's service that Mr. Bartowski apparently belongs to. I have been notified in no uncertain terms that he is not to be harassed or detained, but we are allowed to provide additional protection for him until we sort this out. I have a meeting with the National Security Advisor and the head of his division to work out the details early tomorrow morning. Since you're already on site and have done a stint on a protection detail you're assigned until we figure out what's going on. Do you understand?"

"Understood sir, I'll discuss it with Mr. Bartowski and we'll work out the logistics," she answered.

"Good, I'll let you know as soon as we have this mess sorted out," with that he disconnected the call. 'Typical,' she thought as she closed the phone and looked back to Chuck, only to find him no longer there. She scanned the store and noticed him talking to his short friend over by the desk with the two questionable members of the human race that had scared her off before. She set off to find out what was going on.

* * *

As Sarah turned to talk to her director, Chuck noticed that the customer currently at the tech support desk had become very animated, and apparently frantic. Beside him a young girl in a tutu looked like she might be about to start crying. Curious, he walked over and signaled to Morgan who was observing the antics at the desk.

"What's up with the little girl?" he asked as he approached his bearded friend.

"Dad over there, bought a brand new digital camcorder to tape his daughter's dance recital for his wife who couldn't be there. Turns out he assumed digital meant solid state storage and didn't buy a tape for said recorder. He watched the whole thing through the viewfinder and never recorded a second of it. Now his wife is going to kill him and worse the little girl's dance recital is lost forever, so sad," answered Morgan shaking his shaggy head.

"Hmmm…" Chuck stared off into space for a minute, then did a quick look around the store. "Morgan my good man, can you hook up your giant wall o' TVs so that half take a feed from one camera and half from another?"

"Would take about 5 minutes to set up, why?" he asked.

"Because I think we can save some memories and maybe even a life today," Chuck answered with a smile. "Go set that up. And while you're at it find out what the music for the recital was supposed to be and have somebody set it up to play through the stereo center next to the TV wall." The click of heels on the tile behind him told him Sarah had finished her conversation and come looking for him.

* * *

"So all cleared up?" Chuck asked with a smile turning as Sarah approached.

"Sort of, that was a very odd conversation," Sarah said with a slightly confused look on her face. "What were you just doing with your friend over there?"

"Oh just my good deed for the day. I try to sneak them in whenever I can," Chuck replied. "If Morgan is telling me the truth you'll find out in about 5 minutes. So what did your director say?

"First a question," Sarah began. "You're a deputy Marshal? That wasn't in my brief, which raises all kinds of flags, and I was just ordered to stick around to provide additional protection, which makes no sense."

"Like you said a minute ago, sort of, and there's a very good reason why it wasn't in your brief. It's because it's classified. The additional protection part would probably make more sense if he'd told you I already have a security detail coming in to provide overwatch for myself and my sister. That would explain the additional part anyway, why they think I need additional protection is probably more agency politics than real need," Chuck responded. Suddenly he chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Sarah asked with less a confused look and more a bemused one.

"I just had a horrible thought about what might be the worst pickup line in history."

"And that would be?" Sarah was definitely looking bemused now.

"Hi, I'm an important government operative and I'm in danger would you be my close protection detail?"

"That wasn't that bad, wouldn't' work on a lot of girls though," was Sarah's response as she struggled and finally lost the battle to hold back the laughter.

Chuck couldn't help but smile watching her laugh. "I was thinking horrible and not in a funny way, apparently I was wrong."

"Sorry," Sarah apologized when she finally regained control.. "I just had a flash of some of the marks and partners I've worked trying that line and the appropriate responses, and couldn't help it. The line is reasonably awful but I was mostly laughing at the situations I just imagined. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time."

"Well then my day is made, I got a beautiful woman to laugh," he opened up a full smile at her. She actually blushed, realized she was blushing and that caused her to blush some more, it was adorable. "And the blush is the icing on the cake."

"All right, you got me, I think I like you Chuck, I've had a better time in the last 5 minutes than I've had in a long time," she thought for a minute. "How sad is that?"

"I'll admit it's pretty sad, mostly because if this is the most fun you've had in awhile you clearly don't get out much which just looking at you is a real shame..." Sarah blushed deeper. "And I just said that out loud didn't I?" Now it was Chuck's turn to blush.

He was saved from death by embarrassment when Morgan signaled that he was ready. "Walk with me Miss Walker, you can help me with my good deed for the day." He stuck out his arm and was surprised when she took it. He led her over to the man and his daughter.

"Ok, it's magic time," he said to the two distraught customers. "My fried Morgan standing over by the TV wall with the magnificent beard, has set the stage, and now all we need is our star." Sarah released his arm as he crouched down to talk to the little girl in the tutu. "Are you ready for your big solo?" he asked her.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well now that your dad has his camera working again, you need to give him something good to tape. We've set up the music you told us was for the recital, and we have a stage set up right here in front of all the TVx. All you have to do is what you've already done once today. Do you think you can do that?"

"I think so, but usually I'm in the back row, not up in front of everybody."

"Why's that?" Chuck asked.

"Because I'm too tall, I get in the way of the other ballerinas," she replied sadly.

Sarah crouched down next to Chuck and took the little girls hand. "Do you want to know a secret?" Sarah asked.

The little girl just nodded.

"Real ballerinas are tall."

Chuck looked over at Sarah with a smile on his face, when the little girl brightened up and let loose a confident smile and moved to the center of the A/V area of the store, which had started to gather a crowd.

* * *

Chuck and Sarah stood back up and slowly eased through the crowd and away from the attention being generated. Chuck waved Morgan over once the music had started. "Do not let them leave the store until you personally check that tape, and maybe make a second copy."

"Not to worry Chuck, I've got Fernando covering this with a second camera that we tested and know works right next to Dad over there, but I'll check both copies before they leave," Morgan replied.

"Good man, I'll talk to you later," Chuck said.

Morgan pulled him down to his level, "At which time you are going to dish on Vicki Vale over there."

"We'll see," was Chuck's response as he led Sarah toward the doors.

"Vicki Vale?" Sarah questioned.

"It's from Batman," Chuck responded.

"Because that makes it better." Sarah said with a smirk.

"Ok, point taken." Chuck thought for a moment, "I'll bet you have some things you have to do now that you are going to be sticking around for awhile right?"

Sarah thought for a minute and then replied, "Well I suppose I should go get set up in a hotel, then get settled in and get the equipment I'll need from the local field office. But I also shouldn't let you out of my sight"

"Tell you what," Chuck said. "I was just going to go down to the pier for the rest of the day, how about I accompany you on your errands? Then later I can drop you back here to pick up your car and you can follow me home so I can shower and change and you can go get ready as well? I know of a Mexican restaurant that will do nicely for a talk and if you're free afterwards we can see what else there is around to do."

"Why are you driving? I have a car."

"Which has a shoebox for a trunk and you said part of your errands will be picking up some stuff?" Chuck said. "I know you've seen my car."

"Size isn't everything." Sarah replied primly.

Chuck's mouth dropped open and he was pretty sure he could have been knocked over with a feather. Sarah in turn just smiled right up until he replied, "Size jokes really? I didn't realize we'd already made it to that very important point in our relationship."

Now it was Sarah's turn to gape, and Chucks to smirk. "Alright, let's get moving, times awastin'." Chuck said.

"You know that this is a bad idea right?" Sarah asked, but the look in her eyes was more amused than concerned. "We absolutely cannot get involved, I'm an agent you're an asset, and there are rules about that."

"Yep absolutely horrible idea, but one correction, I'm not an asset, and even if I was I'm not your asset so all bets are off." Chuck replied making his eyebrows dance. "Come on, let's get this done so we can discuss what our offices come up with over dinner, then maybe have some fun."

"Well, I suppose that would work, and as you can tell from what I said earlier, I could really use some fun, I've pretty much forgotten how to do that." Sarah admitted looking down.

"Hey, none of that," Chuck said stopping them, turning toward her and using his left hand to tilt up her chin so he could look into her eyes. "I'm sure we can find something fun one way or another. Don't think of this as another mission, think of it as a paid night out. We'll have some fun, the security team, which should be here by then, will make sure nobody nefarious bothers us, and we can get to know each other a little better. What do you say?"

"I still want it on record that this is a bad idea," Sarah responded, "but sure I'm in."

* * *

_A/N2: Bet you weren't expecting that line to come from Sarah were you? But let's face it who's more likely to have actually seen and met ballerinas? Also while I'm not changing Sarah nearly as much as Chuck, I can't see why she wouldn't epathize with the little girl given her own childhood as related by the show._


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Thanks once again to all of you who have read, followed, favorited and especially reviewed, you all make a smile come to my face. So here we are once again, and this chapter starts my version of the date scene in the pilot. I think I've tweaked this one to within an inch of it's life, right up until it was time to put it to bed. Getting Sarah right for this scene was a lot harder than I thought going in. Hopefully you'll enjoy what I've come up with. _

_As always, standard disclaimers apply I don't own Chuck. If I did own Chuck there would have been a whole lot less whining on all sides. And I reiterate more Sarah in skimpy costumes. Also if you're looking for cannon, I've received a recommendation from Oldest Man that the Benning School for Wayward Boys is an excellent place to find some fine examples including the tracked kind._

* * *

Chuck was sitting on the couch wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans when Ellie and Devon walked into the apartment. The table was set for an intimate dinner for two. His right leg was bouncing a little indicating he was a little nervous about the evening.

"Chuck, I thought you were making dinner tonight," Ellie said as she walked into the dining area, causing him to startle.

'I must be slipping, she shouldn't have been able to get in the door without me noticing.'

"Yeah, about that, would you mind taking a rain check? I didn't want to leave you with the cleanup, and I'm going to be going out tonight. I ordered some lasagna, garlic bread and salad from the Italian place down the road. It should be arriving in about 45 minutes, giving you time to clean up before it gets here."

Ellie went from normal to full on interrogation as soon as she heard the words 'going out.' "Going out with whom little brother? Don't tell me you and Morgan are going to spend the night gaming in his basement."

Chuck debated flat out lying, Morgan would cover for him after all, but decided to go with at least part of the truth. "No, I met somebody who's new in town when I dropped Morgan off at the BuyMore today, and we sort of hit it off so I offered to take her around town a bit tonight and sort of show her the area. We're going out for Mexican, then maybe find a club with a decent band."

Ellie's demeanor changed yet again. Now she was almost bouncing. "You mean you have a date?"

In retrospect, maybe he should have just gone with the Morgan story. "No, not like a date, we're just going to out to dinner to talk a bit then find someplace to have a good time afterwards."

"And would this talking be in the nature of getting to know each other better?" Ellie asked the beginning of a smile on her lips, and the bouncing intensified.

"Well I suppose that was the plan, yeah." He was starting to think he might be in trouble.

"That is what is commonly referred to, by the general public, as a date little brother. You are not going dressed like that." She walked up and sniffed the air around him. "And you're taking another shower."

Oh yeah he definitely should have lied about this. "I don't need a shower, I'm fine."

"Well you don't stink, but you don't smell fresh either. Get in the shower before I grab your ear and drag you in there. While you're in there I'm going to pick out a different shirt. Now march!" Ellie was pointing imperiously at the bathroom.

"Yes ma'am," sulked Chuck as he headed to the bathroom.

Thirty minutes later a freshly showered Chuck was heading to the front door now wearing a button down shirt over a different t-shirt. He wasn't exactly sulking. Ellie watched with a smile on her face. "I'm a girl and I know what girls like. You'll thank me later," she called to him as he exited the apartment.

As soon as he was out sight, his demeanor changed. A smile formed on his lips and he straightened up. It really was kind of nice to have Ellie do that for him. He actually didn't mind at all, but he'd never let her know that because she'd be impossible to deal with if he ever did. As he walked up to his car he waved at the two black SUVs across the street. They weren't exactly being subtle, but he was actually ok with that. He knew the teams in those vehicles and they weren't going to be surprised or bypassed so being a little obvious might work like a deterrent. He got behind the wheel of his car, which he had reset earlier to mimic a regular '69 Charger's performance. He thought about reconfiguring the seatbelts into a standard 3 point system, but Sarah hadn't complained about the four point harness earlier and she seemed to enjoy going fast so he left the seatbelts as they were. He then pulled out of the parking space and headed over to Maison 23 followed by one of the two SUVs.

* * *

As Chuck got out of his car at Sarah's hotel, one of the men from the tail car got out and approached. "Hey Chuck, the boss wants you on comms," he said holding out an earbud. "Put this in your ear; it does both transmit and receive, but it isn't sub-vocal so you actually have to speak to be heard. Whisper is good enough."

"Skip," he said to the security man, "you know what I do for a living right?"

"Yeah, but you always repeat stuff like this every time we get ready to go out, and I thought I'd show you how annoying that is after the first time."

"Fair enough," said Chuck chuckling, "I'll bear that in mind next time."

"By the way," Skip continued, "we actually are expecting the NSA agent, a Major John Casey, to attempt at least contact soon. I'm getting the feeling the NSA didn't get the memo. The powers that be are working on that, but I figured you ought to know just in case. We'll try a clean intercept before he or his team make contact but there could be a kerfuffle if he pushes the issue."

"After you do the intercept, bring him over so we can introduce everyone around," Chuck said after a moment's thought. "Might as well make sure we're all one big happy family before this whole thing spins out of control and we end up on a rooftop with guns pointed at me after a high speed chase through downtown LA."

"That was oddly specific," said Skip with a puzzled look on his face.

"Yeah I think I saw it on a TV show somewhere. Not sure why it popped into my head. I'd better get going or I'm going to show up late to pick her up."

"I thought this wasn't a date," Skip teased smiling.

"And you bugged the apartment didn't you?"

"Just audio in the areas with external walls. We've got good visual and motion on the exterior, including infrared and starlight. We have the computer auto dumping the audio every 8 hours on a loop so no problems there and the people who are monitoring know to let the computer handle it if it starts to sound personal. Don't worry we're security not surveillance."

"I know," replied Chuck, "not like I'm unfamiliar with what you're doing, just didn't think it through. Now I really am going." He started to the door.

"Have fun on your date. Just so you know Anna made me promise to give her all the gory details later. She's like an old yenta that one." Skip called after him.

Chuck's head dropped at this pronouncement. 'I really didn't think this through when I called for a protection detail and then asked Sarah out to dinner. I am so going to take crap for this for months.' He sighed, straightened up and went to see if he could at least make this worth the trouble he was going to get into.

* * *

Sarah and Chuck had spent the afternoon getting the logistics set up for what was supposed to be a short term mission. Yeah, she'd heard that before. Last time had turned into a 6 month undercover job where she had to pretend to be a Weinerlicious girl. It wouldn't have been so bad, her intentionally bad cooking had mostly kept all but the most dedicated teenage boys from hanging around to ogle her, but she always smelled like burned sausage at the end of the day. It took 3 showers to get the stink off every night. It ended well though, the arms trafficker she had been staking out took a delivery right in front of her and she got to kick his ass when he tried to run for it. Not really payback for the time spent but you take wins where you can get them in this line of work.

So instead of just setting up for a day or two at a hotel and picking up the bare essentials, she had gone to the local substation and requisitioned a safe house, or in this case a safe long term hotel room in a secured building, and had ordered a small arsenal to be delivered to a newly installed hidden gun safe keyed to her palm print. She had also requisitioned some specialized com gear to be installed and some specialized mission gear to be shipped to the substation so she could get it quickly if necessary. Some things were easier in the U.S. even if they weren't technically allowed to operate here.

Finally as she was getting ready to go out with Chuck, she had called in to Director Graham to find out anything he could tell her about the mission, which hadn't been much.

"I talked to the National Security Advisor and Mr. Bartowski's superior," the Director had said, "we're going to be talking with the head of the NSA tomorrow to hammer this whole thing out, but right now what I've got is the data you're looking for is safe and that Mr. Bartowski is a special case and we are not allowed to do anything other than provide and I quote, 'backup protection.' I have no idea why they termed it like that."

"Chuck said his boss had already sent a protection detail to watch him and his sister, I assume that's where the backup part comes from. He seems to think that it's some sort of joke that they are sending him a detail, but seemed to be in agreement that his sister should have one for the duration. I'm not sure I understand that. He doesn't act like somebody who knows how to handle situations like this, he's too… Frivolous isn't really the word, but he doesn't seem to be taking this very seriously."

"I don't like the sound of that Agent," Graham spoke with a note of distaste. "Perhaps you can persuade him to see the severity of his situation."

There came a knock at her door, looking out she saw Chuck waiting in the hallway. "I'll see what I can do, but I'm not making any promises on this one Director."

Graham sighed, "Just see what you can do Sarah," he said and hung up. Sarah put her phone away and answered the door.

* * *

When Sarah answered the door it practically took his breath away. She had her hair up with two pointed chopsticks, and an outfit that looked great on her. She was taking her phone away from her ear, and reaching for her purse. "I'm ready to go." She said with a smile.

"Apparently your boss, my boss and the National Security Advisor had a little chat," she continued. "Director Graham is not a happy camper, but they've apparently worked out a deal where I'll stick around until they work out how they're going to transfer the data back to the CIA and NSA. I'm also supposed to see if I can make you see the severity of the situation."

"Trust me, I'm well aware of the target painted on my back Sarah. I'm taking it very seriously whether it looks like it or not. The rest sounds good to me. Since the business stuff is all being worked out on our bosses' end we can probably skip the business part of tonight and go right on to the fun part. Sound like a plan to you?"

"Sounds great," she said with another smile, "lead on."

Chuck held out his arm, and Sarah took it with a slight giggle. This caused Chucks head to whip around and stare at her. "Did you just giggle?" he asked.

Sarah turned bright red with a look of horror on her face. "I do not giggle."

"I think that's no longer a true statement Miss Walker," he kidded trying not to laugh as they made their way to the elevator arm in arm.

"If you even think about telling anyone about this remember I know over 200 ways to kill you," now she was smiling too.

"This may be the most dysfunctional flirting in history. You realize that?" commented Chuck as he pushed the elevator call button.

"Probably but normal is probably never going to define anything that happens around us is it?"

Chuck thought for a few seconds. "Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes I wonder if I even know what normal is anymore." The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside and Sarah hit the button for the lobby. "You know what?" he continued. "I don't think it matters. Normal is what you expect so who cares if we have unusual expectations?"

"That was really deep Chuck."

"Thank you I just made that up on the fly. Sounded good though didn't it?"

"Yes it did, let's try that for awhile and see where it goes." Sarah replied.

"Sounds vaguely like a plan." The two exited the elevator and left the building through the lobby. Walking up to Chuck's car he opened and held the door for Sarah to get in. Once she was in he closed the door walked around and got in. "So you do like Mexican right?" he asked as he pulled out of the parking space. "I forgot to ask when we were talking earlier."

"Mexican is fine. I'm not really picky. I'm as happy with pizza and cheeseburgers as I am with steak and lobster." Sarah thought for a second and then made a face. "Actually lobster and I had a bad experience at an embassy dinner once, so probably stay away from the lobster."

"You aren't allergic or anything are you?" He started categorizing the different dishes he'd have to steer her away from if she was allergic to shellfish.

"No… You know the lobster scene in the movie Pretty Woman?" Sarah asked.

"You mean where she tries to crack it open and ends up throwing it across the table?" Chuck asked. He started to wonder where she was going with this.

"Imagine that scene involving gunfire, then imagine having to run out in your underwear because a guard managed to snag your dress and the only way out was to shuck it off."

Chuck's mind ground to a halt thinking about Sarah in her underwear, he barely had enough attention left to continue driving to their destination. He came out of the near stupor before she had to prompt him, but he blushed when the look on her face told him she knew exactly what he had been thinking about. She actually looked a little pleased at the discovery which confused him as well. He decided he better say something before it got awkward.

"Ok, I fail to see how any of this is the lobster's fault."

"It isn't," she replied, "think of it as guilt by association. I can't even think about lobster without reliving that memory, and it wasn't my finest moment. The whole op got blown. Given that my partner is the one that blew the op and led to my failed attempt at a distraction and near capture when he ran out on me I probably should have figured out something was up." She stopped talking as she thought about Bryce and where it all went wrong.

"We're here," Chuck announced as much to break the silence as to let her know. He pulled into a parking place, got out, went around and opened Sarah's door giving her a hand out. They walked half a block to the restaurant, which was both loud and busy, and Chuck gave their names at the desk. As their table was ready they were immediately seated.

After the hostess had walked away Sarah decided to ask the question that had been bothering her since she got this assignment. It also would help her determine what her next step was going to be. She put her menu down and looked at Chuck. "Chuck, can I ask you a question?"

"You mean besides the one you just asked me?" he replied putting down his menu and smiling at her. "Sure, go ahead."

"Jerk," she said with a smile so he could see she wasn't serious. "Why do you think Agent Larkin sent that email to you? The limited briefing I got indicated that he was the last person you'd be willing to help out of a jam or assist him in whatever he was planning. I mean he got you kicked out of Stanford, and slept with your girlfriend after he did it. So why send the data to you?"

"Honestly?" Chuck began, "I have no idea why he would think I would do anything for him. The douchebag burned every bridge he had with me when he did what he did back in 2002. I've gotten past most of it now, but there's no way he could know that, and if he showed up right now, I can't truthfully tell you I wouldn't break his jaw for him so why he would look to me for any help is beyond my knowledge." He thought for a second and his expression changed to a less angry visage.

"I will tell you this much," he said with a conspiratorial tone. "Mostly because it's not really classified. He didn't actually manage to get me kicked out of Stanford, I have my degree not that it really matters to me at this point. I had proof Bryce was the one who planted the tests, and that one of my professors helped him do it. But, I had reasons of my own for needing to disappear, and I already had enough credits to graduate so I made a deal with the University. I wouldn't publicly humiliate one of their tenured professors and one of their star athletes, and I got to leave campus with my degree and an excuse nobody would question. Not really a win/win, but close enough for government work. "

"That wasn't probably the answer you were looking for by the way, but hey I figured you might be interested."

"Wait, you had proof that Bryce framed you and you let him off the hook? Why?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah," Chuck answered. "Some days I wonder if I shouldn't have ended Flemming's career and nailed Bryce, but in the end that never really mattered in the big picture. I'm still pissed about Jill though. Five years later and that still hurts. But for the rest of it? I had bigger worries at the time, and I was trying to exit quietly, so making that big a scene was counterproductive. If I could have done it and slipped away silently I absolutely would have but I couldn't come up with a way to pull it off at the time."

She was curious about him needing a reason to disappear, but figured he wasn't going to tell her right now so she didn't push. She summoned up some courage, and began her own story, she figured it was a fair trade, and the way this relationship was going they were going to have to play scrupulously fair with each other for it to work. 'Wait, relationship?' She shook that realization off and started in again, "I can understand that Chuck, but now in the interest of fair play, I have something I need to tell you, and I really hope you don't hate me for it." Sarah couldn't explain why, but she was actually a bit scared to say what she now felt she needed to say.

"I doubt I could hate you for something you'd be telling me now. We haven't known each other long enough for you to betray me on that kind of level. Go ahead, I'm all ears," he said.

Sarah continued on nervously, "My partner, the one I mentioned in the car, was Bryce Larkin. We were together for two years, and he and I were involved for most of that time."

'Ok, that was unexpected.' Chuck thought as he tried to school the shock off his features. Obviously by the fact Sarah was looking a bit upset he'd failed. "I'm not sure what to say to that honestly. You said you _**were**_ involved, does that mean you aren't any longer?"

Sarah looked closely at his face trying to read him, she had not expected that response. "We broke up about 6 months ago. We're spies, so obviously we kept secrets, but it became obvious that he was keeping something important from me, like something that could get me as his partner killed. I never figured out what it was, but I started second guessing every move he made and every word he said. When I thought about it I realized I hadn't told him very much about myself either, granted, not stuff that would impact our missions or safety but personal stuff he, as my boyfriend, should have been allowed to know. It occurred to me that maybe subconsciously I didn't trust him at all. From there, it was a bumpy road to first the relationship ending and then our partnership cratering. I've been running solo with an occasional joint op since then. That's probably why when Bryce went off the reservation I didn't end up in a cell somewhere and was instead sent out here to try and get ahead of this thing."

"So no unfinished business or residual feelings for me to worry about then?" Chuck asked her still with a serious look on his face.

"Unless you consider a killing rage at this situation unfinished business no," Sarah replied. 'Where is he going with this?' she wondered.

"Ok then," Chuck said with a smile returning to his face. "I'm really glad you told me Sarah, it means a lot. I know that in your line of work it's hard to bring up that kind of stuff, but I'm honestly glad you told me now and I didn't find out later some other way. Just so you know, It means as much to me _**that**_ you told me as _**what** _you told me. Anything else I need to know? You're not a robot or something are you?"

"No not a robot, unless you count the fact that I'm not funny," Sarah said feeling a small smile starting to show itself in the corners of her mouth.

"Ah, so that's what's wrong with you, because I was wondering," Chuck joked picking his menu back up.

"Oh plenty is wrong with me believe me," replied Sarah copying his movements. "I come with enough baggage to fill the cargo compartment of a 747."

"Actually, I think you're probably selling yourself short Sarah. You seem pretty incredible from where I sit. I doubt you have any more baggage than anyone else, you've just spent more time burying it than most of the rest of the populace." Chuck looked over his menu with a more serious look than his smile of just seconds before. "Tell you what, when we get more comfortable with each other we can put our various valises on the table and maybe help each other with the unpacking. How does that sound?" His smile returned.

"Sounds great Chuck," Sarah responded. "But I doubt I'll be around long enough for us to get to that. Once everything has been handled, I'm sure I'll be off to Borneo to quell a revolution with a fork, or something equally ridiculous."

"And you say you're not funny,"

* * *

_A/N2: Well hopefully everyone enjoyed the start of the evening. Now the fun can really start. Next chapter, our friend who can make a grunt mean anything joins the party, and we finally see some action. No, not that kind of action, get your mind out of the gutter. (Oh, you mean you hadn't gone there? That was just me? Oh, then my bad, Carry on, nothing to see here.)_


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Thanks once more to all of you who've read, favorited, followed and especially reviewed. You guys still make me smile.

Well, moving on to the second part of the first date, we end up with a little action and even a bullet flying. I hope you like it.

As always standard disclaimers apply I don't own Chuck I'm just playing in the sandbox. No money being made here. If I did own Chuck the Orange Orange would have had a dress code like Cowgirls Espresso in Seattle. Google is amazing you cannot make this stuff up. (Full disclosure the google search on bikini coffee shop is as close as I've ever been to the place. The search for bikini yogurt shop turned up diddly.)

Finally today's tip for those looking for cannon, I suggest the USS Texas at LaPorte, TX. I like to think of it as the Kill-O-Zap ray gun of historical naval vessels.

* * *

Conversation turned lighter for the remainder of the meal. Not really focusing on anything in specific, Chuck talked about his sister and her boyfriend and some of this coworkers back in the St. Louis area. Sarah shared some non-classified tidbits about living the spy life. They were both surprised that a couple of hours had passed and the waitress was starting to make subtle hints that they needed the table back. Chuck settled the tab and the two left once again arm in arm and walked a block to an underground music venue.

They were sitting enjoying the music and each other's company when they both noticed 5 men in suits enter the building followed closely by Chuck's security detail. Before the suits could make it more than a few paces into the club the security detail had gotten in front of them with IDs open. The suits stopped like they'd been pulled up short by a leash. After a few words, the largest of the men started forward again with Skip.

"Well the NSA is here, now it's a party," Chuck joked to Sarah.

"Chuck," Skip began, "this is Major John Casey NSA. Major Casey, Chuck Bartowski."

Chuck stood up and held out his hand, "Thanks Skip. Major Casey, it's nice to meet you. This is Agent Sarah Walker CIA. Sarah, this is Skip the head of my security detail."

Sarah shook hands with both Skip and Major Casey. "Nice to meet you both." The look she gave Casey made Chuck think she wasn't sure she was telling the truth there.

Casey's face definitely showed he wasn't pleased. "I have orders to take you into custody Bartowski."

"Did Skip explain things to you Major?"

"Yes but I have my orders," Casey replied looking like he was going to get stubborn about this.

"Since you have exactly zero operational authority in the United States, and I've been told to arrest you if you try something as stupid as kidnapping a U.S. Marshal, can I suggest that you and Skip go over there a bit and call your respective bosses to work this out? We already had to deal with this with the CIA, I would've thought word had gotten back to the NSA by now," Chuck advised, exasperated at having to go through the whole thing again with another agency even if he wasn't the one doing the heavy lifting.

And to put the icing on the cake, at that moment his earbud crackled to life. "Chuck this is Anna, we have a situation. Don't respond, just listen. That database that got emailed to you just got a hit. The surveillance we have up and running for LA because of your current issue has managed to capture a wanted bomb maker in the LA area. That got run through the database and we came up with a target and a time. The NSA has been getting some chatter about General Stanfield's itinerary, and the CIA found a copy of the blueprints for the Grand Ambassador Hotel in a terrorist camp they raided. Stanfield is giving a speech at the Grand Ambassador tonight, in fact he's about to hit the stage. The only personnel I can find in the area with the right level of expertise to deal with this, and that can respond in time are you and Skip's security team. Don't explain anything just start moving. We're starting to run clearances on Casey and Walker. They may need to be read in on our merry band of misfits, but it's probably going to take a week. Both have been deep cover for a long time and we're having trouble unearthing their original identities."

"Crap I can't believe they're going to try and kill Stanfield," Chuck said more to himself than anyone else, as he started to move toward the door dragging Sarah with him.

"What?" Both Sarah and Casey managed to say at the same time. Skip started heading for the exit calling for his team, and Casey followed after, his phone call forgotten.

"Someone's trying to kill General Stanfield," Chuck repeated. "Look, I can't tell you how I know this but trust me it's true. He's just about to hit the stage." Chuck explained as they all continued onto the street getting odd stares from the line of people outside.

"Chuck, when you got that email, did you open it?" Sarah asked fear tingeing her words.

"Of course I opened it why do you ask?"

"Chuck if you saw the pictures in that email, you are the Intersect now, the computer is in your brain. I was briefly involved with this project when Bryce and I were first partnered. That was always the intention." Sarah was afraid that the fear and tension from this latest revelation was showing in her voice. 'He doesn't deserve this. If Bryce wasn't already dead I'd go shoot him myself.'

'Ok that's weird even for the government. And I've worked on some weird stuff over the years. I wonder why this seems to be scaring Sarah?' Chuck's earbud came to life again. "Chuck neither confirm nor deny right now, we'll fix it later, probably when we get a chance to read everyone in," came a different voice.

"Sorry Chuck, the boss is listening in on this obviously," came Anna's voice.

'Great as if I didn't have a big enough target hanging around my neck.' Chuck thought.

Instead of arguing he held open the door for Sarah, then quickly ran around to the driver's door and got in himself. "I'm not sure what you're talking about Sarah, but I don't really have time to discuss it now. Buckle up this could get bumpy. "

He nailed the accelerator to the floor and the Charger took. "Systems on voice command, confirm," he said.

Sarah opened her mouth to say something when the car answered back, "Voice commands accepted."

Sarah's mouth dropped open further and what she was going to ask was forgotten as Chuck continued, "Performance full release, execute."

"Performance full release command confirmed," came out of the speakers as the car that had already been tearing down the street accelerated like it had been shot from a cannon. He looked over at Sarah and with a sheepish smile simply said, "Nerd remember?"

They quickly outdistanced Casey's team's SUV and Skip's SUV was falling behind as well. They skidded to a stop in front of the hotel and both he and Sarah jumped out. Chuck popped the trunk and pulled a black backpack out and put it on running into the lobby as Skip's SUV pulled up and disgorged the security team with Casey just pulling up.

"Go around the fountain and straight to the back of the lobby. Take the hallway left, it's the second door on the left down that hallway," came over his earbud.

"Follow me," he said as he splashed through the fountain and raced through the lobby and down the hallway to the door. He slowed to let Skip go through first with his ID and he followed his eyes searching the room.

"Intelligence suggests the bomb will be in a steel domed serving cart," came from Anna. He saw it a second later.

"And there it is," he said as he made his way to the cart.

He noticed Skip's team checking their phones and half the team immediately tore after a waiter that was trying to run. A shot to the leg stopped the runner and while a slight panic started, the General managed to calm the crowd down and get them headed for the exits.

Chuck walked around the cart looking for any obvious external triggers, finding none and knowing he didn't have a lot of time he touched the lid to open it slightly and it opened completely on its own displaying a laptop computer being used as a timer and trigger.

"Really? A laptop? He'd have been better off using a kitchen timer. What the heck was he thinking," Chuck muttered slipping off his backpack, pulling his multi-tool from his pocket and getting to work.

"Wait moron," yelled Casey, "this isn't an Xbox and you aren't an X-Man."

"Quiet Casey, I'm working here. I wish I could say this was my first EOD job but it would be a lie, and yes all that is classified, code word in fact so you won't be getting any specifics. What, you thought I just happened to have a bomb disposal kit in my trunk because? Now let me work. Skip time to clear?"

"Longer than we have Chuck." Skip said. "We've got the room clear, and the immediate surroundings cordoned off, but clearing the building takes time we don't have."

"Got it, so no pressure then," Chuck continued to trace wires until he finally looked up. "Ok, clear this room. Push the cordon back as far as you can. That means you too Sarah. Skip if they don't start moving, move them!"

Casey gave a startled grunt and started for the door while Skip motioned to two of his men who grabbed Sarah from the sides, lifting her off the floor mostly immobilizing her. Chuck meanwhile pulled a meter and a set of wire cutters from his backpack and was setting about disarming the bomb. It was going to be close.

* * *

Five minutes later, a full minute after the bomb should have gone off Chuck walked out of the hotel with his backpack in his hand. "Skip get LA county bomb disposal in there to clear it, we're done here."

Skip smiled and started making the call. Chuck walked back to his car where he found Sarah and Casey waiting for him. Casey just looked curious, Sarah looked… well he figured it was probably the wrong side of angry.

"Guys, I'm sure you have a ton questions, but for the moment I simply can't give you any answers. My boss is apparently trying to decide who can be told what and as soon as she figures that out I'll tell you whatever I'm allowed to. Until then you just saw something you're not allowed to talk about, ever, even to your direct and ultimate superiors without direct approval of the President, Vice President or the National Security Advisor. If anyone tries to push it call this number and tell them you have an issue with a security request," he said handing them each a card. "They'll take it from there."

"Chuck who or what are you?" asked Sarah. Curiosity overcoming but in no way assuaging her anger.

"The same guy you had dinner with, but remember when you said you had enough baggage to fill the cargo hold of a 747? Change it to a C5 and that's me. Not to try and scare you off, but I'm trying to be as honest as I can be here."

"I'm not scared that easily Chuck. But we are going to talk about you ordering your security detail to remove me from the room. That is not your call to make, I don't care what your reasoning is, I have a job to do and you don't just get to decide I shouldn't be doing it." She practically hissed the last.

Chuck looked at her startled for a minute. He hadn't considered that in his processing of the events, and in retrospect he probably should have. In the current operational scenario he really shouldn't have ordered her out of the room, and thinking about it, that was probably a poor personal decision as well. There was probably only one way out of this one.

"You're right," he admitted. "I overstepped my boundaries when I had Skip drag you out of the room and I'm sorry. In my defense I would like to point out that I didn't have a lot of time to process so I defaulted to get everyone to safety by any means necessary. I should have asked you to leave rather than ordered you out and then allowed you to make the decision. That's not my normal operating mode, but this isn't a scenario I ever expected to be in. So I apologize for that. I'll try not to let it happen again."

"See that you don't," Sarah replied. She was still unhappy but was somewhat mollified by his apology. "Do you understand why I'm mad at you about this?"

"You are a trained agent of the United States government assigned as close protection to me for the duration of the current issue with the Intersect data. By having you forcibly removed I prevented you from carrying out your mission, but I suspect more to the point you felt it showed a lack of respect for you and your abilities. Am I close?"

"Pretty much," Sarah admitted, "but more than that it was an indication of a lack of trust. I need you to trust me Chuck, because if you don't…"

"I do trust you Sarah," Chuck cut her off. He was tempting her wrath he knew but he needed to stop that line of thought right now. "It wasn't a lack of trust. It was a default operating procedure. You've had some experience with explosives. What's the primary rule about personnel in regards to defusing a bomb?"

Unsurprisingly it was Casey who spoke up, "One man down range. Technically he was right Sarah. The problem moron is that you shouldn't have been that person." Chuck made to defend his position but Casey held up his hand for forestall the argument. "I know you were the one with the capabilities, but that changes the math. You don't get to go anywhere without protection right now, so that forces a violation of the rule. We really need to have two people at minimum downrange, and that extra person's job is to watch your back and if necessary pull you away before you're done if it looks like the bomb is going to go off anyway. Right at this moment you're classified more important than that building and all its occupants. You don't get to play the martyr, you have a responsibility to survive, and we have a responsibility to keep you alive, so it's our job to be that extra person or persons in harm's way. That's non-negotiable."

"Ok," Chuck started, "I understand where you two are coming from, I might not agree, in fact I don't, but that's got to do with some things you don't know about… yet. I promise to take that into account going forward. I will maintain the right to act as necessary given information I have that you don't and you have to trust me on that, but barring that I will not order you removed from a position to perform your assigned missions. Will that suffice?"

"Yeah, that'll work," responded Casey.

When Sarah didn't respond immediately Chuck looked her in the eyes and said, "Sarah?"

"From a mission standpoint I'm ok, but that's not the only reason I'm mad at you about this," she replied. She didn't want to say any more in front of everyone here.

"If I told you I think I understand the other reason and the same reason had to do with me ordering Skip to remove you from the room would you accept that and my apology for it at face value?" Chuck asked.

A look of relief and maybe wonder crossed her face and the unsettled look changed to speculative. "When we can, I really would like to put all our baggage on the table and compare." She gave a sly smile.

"Oh good grief get a room you two, or maybe two, one for you and one for all the lady feelings around here." Casey walked away in a huff toward his SUV. "I'll talk to you all tomorrow. I called General Beckmann, she, Director Graham, whoever's Bartowski's boss and the National Security Advisor apparently have a meeting tomorrow at 8am to discuss it. She's going to get back to me after."

"Great, see you tomorrow Casey," Chuck called. "So Sarah," he said turning to the blonde agent, "Since the second part of our date was a bust, do you want me to take you back to your hotel?"

"That depends Chuck, are you planning on going home and crashing?"

"Nah, I'm too wound up to crash right now. I was going to head down to the beach and sit looking at the surf for an hour or so then head back once I'm calmer and have a chance of actually sleeping."

"Do you want to be alone, or would you like some company?" she asked. She was kind of hoping he'd like some company because it would feel less stalkery doing her job that way.

He thought for a moment, "You know, some company would be nice I think."

"Good, then I'll come with you if that's ok?"

"That's better than ok. Thanks Sarah."

"For what?" she asked.

"For asking to come along, you don't have to do this," Chuck responded.

"Actually I do, we just discussed that, but more to the point I want to." They were both surprised to find that she meant it.

* * *

A/N 2: So that's a wrap on the first date, and pretty much this rendition of the pilot episode.

Next time Sarah meets Ellie in a whole battleship full of awkward, and it may get a bit fluffy out. You have been warned.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N I know this is starting to sound like a broken record, but thanks once more to everyone who's read, followed, favorited, and especially reviewed. You're all still bringing a smile to my face._

_With the date over with, it's time for Sarah to meet Ellie. Just remember I did promise a boatload of awkward here, and some fluff. You have been warned._

_Sorry this one's a little short, just worked out that way. _

_Standard disclaimers apply, I don't own Chuck, I'm not making any money, just having some fun playing in somebody else's sandbox. For those looking for canon I suggest the U.S.S Constitution in Charlestown Naval Yard, Charlestown MA_

* * *

Chuck awoke from a very nice dream about a beautiful CIA agent to an unusual warmth on his left side, and a strange weight on his shoulder, chest and leg. Opening his eyes he found that the very same CIA agent, dressed in a pair of his sweatpants, and one of his t-shirts was using him like a teddy bear. Her head was on his shoulder with one arm across his chest and her leg thrown over his. In turn he had wrapped his arm protectively around her, pulling her in closer. She looked so peaceful and comfortable he couldn't help but smile.

This wasn't what woke him up however so he started processing the rest of his environment trying to determine what had. The mystery was solved a second later when he turned his head and saw his sister staring at him with look on her face that obviously demanded an explanation. His attempt to signal her that they'd talk later so as not to disturb his companion proved for naught when his slight movements caused her to wake up and process her surroundings. He saw a barely noticeable upturn of her lips followed by a blush and quick withdrawal to her side of the bed. She then opened her eyes and noticed Ellie looking down at them, at which point he noticed her processing, probably trying to determine what the best way to handle this situation was. He decided that since she was awake he'd better forestall 'Hurricane Ellie' before she really built up a head of steam.

"Morning Ell, I'd like you to meet Sarah Walker. Sarah, this is my sister Ellie."

"Nice to meet you Ellie," Sarah said sitting up and reaching across Chuck to shake Ellie's hand. "Chuck talked a lot about you last night. He obviously thinks the world of you."

Chuck decided to short circuit the inquisition by offering a preemptive explanation, "We went to the beach after the club and talked until we got cold, then we came back here and talked some more. By the time we decided to call it a night, it was really late and we were both pretty beat so I asked her if she'd be ok staying over. "

"He was going to sleep on the couch and let me have the bed," Sarah put in. "I told him that was silly and the bed was plenty big enough for the two of us," seeing the look on Ellie's face she decided on some additional defense, "We started on our own sides of the bed, and must have migrated together while we slept. Sorry about that," she finished now looking again at Chuck feeling the red climbing back to her cheeks.

"Hey, there's nothing to be sorry about. We were asleep, these things happen, or so Hollywood and the entire romantic comedy genre would have us believe," Chuck said with a smirk, "Can't say I've ever had any experience with that before last night myself, and I'm certainly not going to complain about it now."

"You better not," exclaimed Sarah punching him in the shoulder. She realized what that sounded like, turned red again and hid her face in his shoulder causing both siblings to chuckle, finally breaking through Ellie's stern demeanor.

"It's nice to meet you Sarah," she said. "If you and your 'teddy bear' would like to get showered and dressed, I'll start on breakfast. Are omelets ok? We had pancakes yesterday, but if you'd prefer I can do those or waffles instead, since you're our guest you get to choose."

"Omelets sound great. We'll be out as soon as we take a shower," Sarah replied.

Now it was Chuck's turn to be surprised, his eyes got big, "Uhhh…"

Sarah realized what she'd just said and felt her cheeks blush even hotter, "Showers, plural, as in one each." She got out of bed, grabbed her clothes from the night before and headed toward the bathroom. "If you'll excuse me I'll just go shoot myself now."

"Hold up a second Sarah. I should be able to find some stuff you can borrow that should fit you until you can get home and change. Just have Chuck bring them back later," Ellie offered.

"Are you sure? I don't want to impose, but it would be really nice to be able to put on something clean."

"It's no imposition," Ellie replied. "Trust me, I've been there."

"What the hell?! What is it with you all of a sudden? Brother laying right here. That's another thing I can't unhear. Are you trying to make me drive spikes into my ears?"

"Ignore him Sarah, he's being overly melodramatic. Chuck, shower now! And hurry up so Sarah can get in as soon as we pick out something for her."

"Melodramatic? Really? After yesterday's conversation, and now learning about you doing the 'walk of shame' you're calling me melodramatic?"

"Chuck you aren't in the bathroom yet, and unless you want to be privy to more of these little tidbits, you should really be heading that way."

"Holy hell! I'm going, I'm going," Chuck jumped out of bed, grabbed some clothes and nearly ran for the bathroom.

"See, he just needs the proper training and motivation," Ellie said turning to Sarah with a smirk. "I think I have just the thing for you, you're going to love it."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Chuck was setting the table as Ellie was busy making breakfast when his phone rang.

"Hello," he answered.

"Hi Chuck, it's Anna."

"Hi Anna, what's up?" he was surprised because he expected the red tape would take days if not weeks to unwind so he wasn't expecting a call yet. "I'm guessing you're not calling to tell me everything is worked out and I don't have to worry about it anymore." He heard a sound coming from the hallway, when he looked his brain froze up. Sarah stood there dressed in a very short sundress revealing two shockingly beautiful legs. 'There goes any shot at concentration for the foreseeable future.' He had to struggle to keep his jaw from dropping, but given the small smirk, followed by a much bigger smile, he realized the struggle was all for naught. Sarah then walked into the kitchen where Ellie promptly put her to work pouring orange juice.

"Chuck, are you still there?" came from the phone.

"Wha…," he snapped back to reality, now with a matching smile on his own face. Shaking his head at his reaction to Sarah he continued "Sorry Anna, I just wandered off there for a minute, could you repeat that?"

"I said we've managed to verify that the only personnel who have any idea you got that email, are Larkin, Casey, Walker, Beckman, and Graham, so you and your family should be in the clear. The boss' words were and I quote 'I may not like how Beckman and Graham do business or treat their people, but I can't see any reason to think they're traitors,' unquote."

"Well that's a relief," he said looking into the kitchen at the two women who were now talking like old friends. 'This can't be good.' "Ok, so that's all good, but not a reason to call as much as I like to hear from you."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, you know that Chuckles, but the reason for the call is to tell you we're pulling the security teams, they are probably going to draw more attention than give protection. Casey and Walker are going to be sticking around until this all gets worked out so you're not on your own. They've tentatively been assigned as interagency liaisons by their agencies with an unofficial role to provide security and overwatch. They'll be getting those assignments confirmed by their respective bosses this morning. They wanted to have them assigned as _handlers_ until the boss stomped on that." He could hear the smirk in her voice as she stressed the word handlers. As if on cue, Sarah's phone rang, and after she answered it she said something to Ellie and then walked toward the front door.

"Sorry, I have to take this Chuck," she said as she walked by. "I'll be right back," and she walked out the door.

"Wait, is Agent Walker there at your sister's apartment?" Anna exclaimed over the phone, he could almost hear her bouncing in her chair. She was nearly as bad as Ellie.

Knowing she'd drag the truth out of the security teams the second they got back he decided honesty was probably the best policy. "Yes she's here, and before you ask she spent the night because it was too late for her to go back to her hotel by the time we finished talking."

"Is that what the kids are calling it these days? I'm so going to lay into Skip for not mentioning that little tidbit in his report." Yep now she was bouncing and laughing at him.

"What do you mean kids? You're a year younger than I am missy, and all we did was sleep."

"So you're telling me the loss of focus and inability to speak English was not caused by a hot blonde walking into the room? You know I'm going to get verification when the teams get back with the IR surveillance feeds. In fact I'm already downloading them and skipping the middle man. And I've seen her file and the recordings from last night so not only do I know what she looks like, but I saw how you two were reacting to each other."

"Ok, yes it was, does that make you happy?" Sarah re-entered the apartment she looked at him and mouthed, "We have to talk," before she went back to Ellie in the kitchen.

"You have no idea. I was starting to think you were going to become a monk," said Anna.

"Be nice."

"I was being nice, if I wasn't I'd have referred to you as an asexual hermit."

"Ouch, that hurts." What was it with the women in his life trying to get him out in the dating scene?

"The truth often does. Anyway, enjoy the rest of your vacation. The boss said to tell you to continue on like you're on vacation, but you're actually not. You won't be expected back here until this is cleared up which at this rate could be several months."

"Please tell me you're kidding."

"I am, but we're expecting it to take at least an extra 2 weeks, enjoy, and remember to check 6."

"You know me, I'll be fine. Have a good one."

"I do know you, which is why I'm worried. Be safe." With that Anna hung up.

Chuck put his phone away and walked over to the table just as Elle and Sarah carried in breakfast.

"Great timing Chuck," Ellie said. "Who was that on the phone?"

"Anna from work, she just wanted to let me know that a couple of things that were outstanding when I left have been resolved, and to let me know that due to some odd scheduling conflicts my boss might extend my vacation for a week or more. Sometimes it just works out that way." Sarah gave him a knowing nod from outside of Ellie's sightline, one of the things they had talked about was that his family and friends didn't know he worked for the Marshals service, and while she didn't understand the need to hide that like she hid she was a CIA agent she could respect his wishes. They all sat down to eat, their conversation turning to what he expected to do for the next few weeks, and if Sarah would be around.

* * *

Once breakfast was finished, Sarah and Chuck had done the dishes while Ellie got ready and left for work. Then the two of them sat down on the couch. Sarah's dress road up even more which did nothing good for Chuck's blood pressure or his ability add 1+1 for that matter. He forced his eyes back up to hers with all his willpower, which didn't really help anything because the two of them then spent the next several seconds staring into each other's eyes. Finally pulling themselves together Sarah got the ball rolling.

"That was Director Graham that called earlier. He gave me a new assignment."

"Really, and what pray tell is that?" he said with a smile.

"You already know don't you?" Sarah pouted.

"Maybe," Chuck equivocated, "but you should tell me anyway just to make it official."

Sarah continued to pout but responded, "I'm supposed to stick close to you and provide close protection. Casey is supposedly getting his orders to provide surveillance, overwatch, and support. We're being tasked as liaisons for the duration, basically seconded to the Marshals service which technically makes us legal to operate in country."

"Short the details of who's doing what that's what I was told. Remind me to ask Casey if he ever manages to get any surveillance from inside the house. Now how close is this 'close protection' supposed to be?" Chuck asked with a slight smile and moved a little closer to her on the couch.

"Well I think pretty close, I'm supposed to pretend to be your new girlfriend." Sarah responded dropping her pout for a sly smile and inched in as well.

"Pretend?" he leaned forward a bit.

"Well we have rules about…" She trailed off and paused thinking about what the rules in this situation were. After her discussion with Director Graham she was pretty certain the normal rules didn't apply. 'What the hell, I might as well go with this.'

"You know what? I don't think there are rules for this situation. The rules all surround Agent/Asset relationships, and I was specifically told you are NOT to be considered an asset. Some big political pissing match surrounding that word apparently, which means that there are no rules for this."

"So is that a no on the pretend?" he asked leaning in further.

"Depends," she answered as she leaned in as well.

"On what?"

"On how good a kisser you are." She was definitely smirking now, leaning in a little more.

"I'll let you be the judge," he said right before he closed the gap and captured her lips with his.

* * *

_A/N 2: Next time some more fluff, some relationship building and the beginning of vs. the Helicopter. See you then._


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Until I come up with a more unique way of saying it, all I can say is thanks to all of you who've read, followed, favorited and reviewed. _

_So as promised, some more fluff, plus some more information that should drive the storyline a bit and the start of vs. the Helicopter. Hope you like it._

_As always standard disclaimers apply, I don't own Chuck, Not making any money at this. If you're looking for canon, try the US Army Ordinance Training and Heritage Center at Ft. Lee Virginia._

* * *

Chuck and Sarah separated after a medium heavy makeout session. Both were mostly still clothed and breathing hard. They had moved from vertical to horizontal on the couch pretty early, and they now lay facing each other with their foreheads touching.

"Wow," was all Chuck could think to say.

"Wow doesn't seem to quite cover it," was Sarah's reply. The two of them lay there smiling at each other for a minute more. Finally Sarah broke the silence. "What did you mean before when you said you had to remember to ask Casey if he ever managed to get surveillance inside the apartment?"

"Ok, I'm doing something wrong if that's the question you want to ask now," said Chuck.

"Trust me, you were doing everything just fine, but that came back to me while I was…" Sarah drifted off to her happy place for a moment as Chuck started placing kisses along her jawline. With a sigh she pushed him slightly away.

"No fair distracting me while I'm trying to ask you a question," she said when he looked up at her with disappointment.

"Fine," he said. "It came back to you when you were?"

"Daydreaming back to the beginning of that first kiss. Now I want to know what you meant," she said firmly.

"Ok fine, but I'll have you know this is not as fun a follow on topic as I was hoping for. Some of what we do involves some cool counter surveillance gadgets. I turned some of them on last night after we got in, to mess with Skip and the security team, they have the overrides but it takes a few minutes if I set it up right. I'll just keep them on and see how crazy I can drive Casey," he said still smiling at her. "Plus if he does manage to get past it, it's a good field test against the NSA's stuff, and I can try and figure out where the holes are."

"You know the NSA has no sense of humor that they are aware of right?"

"Yeah, I've been around enough of them to figure that out, but I've got a feeling about Casey. I think there's more there than meets the eye."

"Well it's your neck, but do try to avoid having him beat you to a pulp, I'd hate for you to die before we can see where this goes."

"What are you saying you wouldn't protect me?" he said with a grin.

"From a deserved beating probably not, but if he took it further than that I'll probably step in," she teased him.

"My heroine," he said batting his eyes at her. The look she gave him spoke volumes. "Ok, that was silly even for me."

"Yeah, that was over the top. I think that may very well have been the least manly thing I've ever seen."

"You have to get out more. Trust me I've seen much worse," he said as he pushed himself back to vertical on the couch and ran his fingers through his hair.

"You're starting to scare the CIA trained assassin, and that's not easy to do you know." Sarah also made the move toward vertical attempting to straighten the dress Ellie had loaned her.

"You're kind of a mess," Chuck stated looking her over.

"Good, that means we were doing it right," Sarah replied with a smirk. Her eyes lost focus for a minute as she thought about the kissing they'd just been doing. 'What the heck is happening here? I do not daydream.' She was then forced to admit to herself that maybe that wasn't the case anymore. She snapped back to reality with a full smile that lit up the room. "Ok, straighten up. Daylight's a-wasting and since this is your 'vacation' we should go do some vacationy things. I've never really seen the sights in L.A. so you are going to take me on a tour," she declared.

"I am, am I?"

"Yes you are. Do you have a problem with that?" She delivered a mock glare, stood up finished straightening her dress then headed for the bathroom.

"Nope," he answered also standing up and heading for his bedroom to comb his hair again and make sure all his clothes were still intact. "I'd be thrilled to take you around. Just give me a minute to find a stick to beat the other guys off with."

"Forget the stick," she called from the bathroom, secretly pleased that he wanted to beat off any interlopers. "I'm more than capable of kicking the ass of anyone trying to horn in on our 'us' time."

She sounded awfully possessive making that statement, causing Chuck to smile even wider if that were possible. He grabbed Sarah's pile of clothes and brought them with. They met in the hallway having repaired the damage from their session on the couch and headed to the door.

"Do you want to stop by your hotel room and change?"

"Well I would like to get some underwear that fits right," she replied, "while I love the dress and it fits really well, your sister and I do not have exactly the same shape. Do you think Ellie would mind if I wore this dress today and gave it back to her in a day or so after getting it cleaned?"

Chuck shook himself out of the happy place that Sarah talking about underwear had sent him, 'I've got to stop losing focus like this. She's going to think I'm some kind of freak.' "I'm sure that would be fine. We'll stop at your hotel, give you a chance to grab some underwear and drop off your laundry then we can get going."

"I think I'll pack a quick overnight bag while we're at it just in case. For that matter before we leave you should do the same." She stopped him, turned them both around, and went back into his room. "If we end up like last night, one of us is going to be staying at the other's place and it would be better to be prepared for that." She found a small bag and tossed it to him then started picking out some clothes for him to wear. "We can stop at a store and pick up some toothpaste, razors and such to put in here while we're out so you don't have to take your stuff from here."

She stopped and looked up at him after a minute deciding to come clean. "Sorry, I'm not being entirely straight with you here. I'm having a hard time breaking away from my training which says don't tell you anything that might frighten you. And yes I remember you defused a bomb last night and it obviously wasn't the first time you've been in a situation like that so I'm probably not going to scare you off with this. I want us each to have a go bag in the car in case we have to make a run for it. Normally I'd have one for each car, but since I know what your car can do now, I'm thinking it's the appropriate getaway car if we need it."

He looked at her and started to laugh. "Sorry, sorry, I'm not laughing at you, it's just I have a go bag in the car already in case I had to 'go' somewhere in a hurry for work, and couldn't take the time to get home to pack. I just never thought of that as also being a 'go' on the run bag. Makes sense though, and I think I should put some street clothes in, the charcoal BDUs don't really blend in."

Now it was her turn to look at him like he had two heads. "You keep a go bag in your car? With BDUs? We really need to talk about what it is you do at the Marshals Service." She handed him the bag with his clothes, and he handed her the roll of her laundry.

"Well we need to get you cleared first, if the timeframe they gave me yesterday holds it will be another 6 days before your security check is finished and you can be read in."

"Wait, what? They're running a security check on ME?!" She was freaking out, 'What if they find out about me and my father and tell Chuck? I'm not ready for him to know that yet.'

"It's ok Sarah," he reassured her as he led her back to the couch and sat them both back down with his arm around her, "it's SOP. A week from now you're going to be officially cleared and then we read you in and all this will make a bunch more sense. Trust me, these guys are both really good and really discrete, nobody they talk to is even going to know why they were contacted, and nobody but them will ever know any of the stuff they find out, unless it's actionable. If it makes you feel any better I've had to have mine rechecked three times already and Ellie still has no idea she was interviewed for my security clearance and she's hardly an idiot." He smiled at her hoping that he could ease her obvious concern.

"Sorry Chuck, I just didn't think it through. Being who and what I am the thought of anyone digging around in my past is a serious hot button. I can understand why it might be necessary, but that doesn't make it feel any better."

"I get it, don't worry, it'll be fine. You'll see." He stood back up and held out his hand to help her up. She took it but once she was up neither one of them let go. They headed out the door for their tour.

* * *

Hours later after spending more time than either of them ever had playing tourist, they returned to Ellie and Devon's apartment. Chuck unlocked the door and held it while Sarah entered. Tired from their day they collapsed onto the couch with Chuck's arm around Sarah's shoulders.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Sarah's demeanor changed instantly as she motioned Chuck to get back into the hallway and pulled her gun from her purse. When instead he pulled a small automatic from an ankle holster she hadn't even been aware he was wearing and moved into position to cover her, she scowled at him but didn't try to order him away. She moved up to the door and looked through the peephole at an oblique angle to avoid signaling her presence. Once satisfied she wasn't going to be shot through the door she looked through the peephole again and sighed. She waved tiredly at Chuck to stand down, opened the door and walked back toward Chuck putting her handgun away as Casey came in and closed the door. "Walker, Bartowski, we have a meeting in ten minutes."

Sarah and Chuck sat back down on the couch next to each other and Chuck motioned Casey to a chair. Once everyone was seated Chuck asked, "A meeting with who Casey?" No sooner had the words come out of his mouth than both his and Sarah's phones began to ring. They looked at each other with a mutual eye roll and then both answered. After listening for a few seconds they each hung up.

"Your boss?" asked Sarah.

"Yep, Director Graham?" Chuck asked in return.

"Yep, apparently we're having a meeting."

"This should be barrels of fun," commented Chuck. "Give me a second I have to set up the video conference." He went into the guest room and came back with his laptop. He fired it up and set it up on the coffee table. Once it booted, he logged in and connected to the secure conferencing server and then sat back on the couch. Casey and Sarah stood at near attention while the connections were made. A minute later, the screen came alive with a three way split, with each of their leaders on the screen.

"Agent Walker," acknowledged Director Graham, a tall imposing African-American in a well-tailored suit and a dour expression.

"Director," she answered standing even straighter.

"Major Casey," greeted General Beckman a petite middle aged woman with fiery red hair and a reputation to match. Her expression was more sour than dour.

"General," Casey seemed uncomfortable to not be saluting, but he was in civilian clothing.

"Hey, Chuck," said another red haired woman, about a decade younger and a foot and a half taller than General Beckman, but with streaks of gray starting to show and an obviously muscular physique.

"Hi Sherrie," Chuck called from the couch. "Have anyone shot today?"

"No but it's getting closer," she said with a smile. "I'll let you know. Now I suppose we should get to business. General Beckman, you asked for this meeting."

"Major Casey has made me aware that Mr. Bartowski has downloaded the Intersect database into himself, one of the scientists that worked on the Intersect's human host project has been made available. I would like to fly him in and have him evaluate Mr. Bartowski's performance with the Intersect with an eye toward coming up with a way to remove it from his memory, and to determine why the download seemed to have worked so much better on Mr. Bartowski than our previous subjects."

"What kind of tests?" Sarah asked concerned where this was going.

"Yeah, what kind of tests? I'm not a big fan of needles and probing." Said Chuck, drawing a chuckle from Sherrie which she attempted to hide behind a cough.

Casey grunted what might have been a laugh if in fact he did laugh and said too low for the mic to pick up, "Walker's probably not going to be happy about the probing part."

"Wha…" Chuck started. Sarah just glared as her had started twitching toward her knife holster. Casey sensing he may be poking a sleeping bear with a stick wisely chose to say no more.

"If I may continue." General Beckman glared at them through the screen. "He will have a series of images that he will run past Mr. Bartowski, some are simple control images some are images designed to trigger the Intersect database. He'll evaluate the responses and your control of the database using these images. That's all."

"Ok," Sarah began moving her hands back away from her knives, "why fly him anywhere when we can set up in a secure video room in one of the L.A. facilities and he can do the whole thing remotely. No need for him to travel and no need for him to come in contact with Chuck."

The General appraised Sarah for a moment, and then answered, "He is specifically not to come in contact with Mr. Bartowski, but we can't have him exposed at one of the facilities in L.A. and bringing more attention to him. I'd rather have him actually in the same building to reduce and possible lag from the communications that might affect the test results. Instead we're going to use a safe house in Carson and run a monitor line from the living room to the basement and a sound only line back up. Mr. Bartowski gets into position 30 minutes before the good doctor arrives at the location. After that Major Casey and Agent Walker will observe while he runs his test, then send him on his way."

"Ok, so I like the no probing thing, but why are we even going through this?" Chuck asked. "I mean why bother, it's not like I'll be doing anything with this data."

"Major Casey can explain that to you after the meeting," the General answered. "Are there any problems with conducting this test?"

Chuck looked at Sherrie on the screen, she made a slight gesture with her hand then answered, "No problem at all General. I'm sure Chuck would be happy to know somebody is working on removing the database."

"I'm going to have to agree with that Sherrie, the sooner the better," was Chuck's response. He continued to watch the screen intently while seemingly at ease. Sherrie made another subtle gesture which he casually returned.

"Ok then," Director Graham said speaking up for the first time since the beginning. "Agent Walker, you can brief Mr. Bartowski on project Omaha, that's been cleared." With that he signed off.

"And Major Casey please explain the nature of our dilemma," reiterated the General also signing off.

"Well that was rude," said Sherrie shaking her head. "Thank you for attending gentleman, lady, and Chuck." She smirked at the camera. "I'm sure we'll talk again later. Chuck, please call and fill me in after Agent Walker and Major Casey brief you. Have a good evening."

"Goodnight Sherrie," said Chuck.

"Goodnight ma'am," chorused Sarah and Casey.

"You can call me Sherrie," she replied. "I only get called ma'am when things have gone horribly wrong."

Casey was obviously unsure how to deal with this, but Sarah replied, "Goodnight Sherrie."

"Better," she said with a smile, and closed the connection.

"Ok Casey, what's the deal? Why is the General so worried about being able to access the data?" Chuck asked.

"Look moron, without the specialized computer that Walker's ex destroyed we don't have anything that can host this database with anything like real time results. The powers that be are hoping that since you didn't go crazy or die when you took the upload you can fill the gap while they rebuild." Casey growled out in explanation.

"Whoa, what do you mean go crazy or die Casey?" Chuck asked. "I've got a feeling I'm being denied critical, need to know information." He was concerned about the agents this was apparently designed for. 'Just what was this project? I think we might need to investigate a bit more when this is done, I don't like the sound of this.'

Sarah was glaring daggers at Casey for calling Chuck a moron and for the ex comment. She really didn't want to talk about this but Chuck was right he needed to know. She sat back down and snuggled into Chuck, needing his warmth for the confession she was about to make. 'I hope he doesn't hate me after this.' She then sat up turned and looked him in the eyes. "Chuck when I told you earlier that if you saw the data in that email you knew it, I wasn't kidding. I spent some time with Bryce on a project called Omaha. The idea was to download mission critical data directly into the minds of agents prior to sending them on a mission. In order to do that the data was encoded into pictures and shown to the agents. It worked very well, or seemed to, until they hit a snag. They couldn't figure out how to unload the data and it turned out that there was a limit to how much data the subjects could take. It appeared to vary from person to person but the end result was that after you hit your data limit, the process started degrading your memory. The test subjects could remember the new data just fine, but they started losing old memories at random, and that wasn't the worst of it. The test subjects started to have what were termed psychotic episodes. Basically they went crazy. In the end they all wound up in asylums run by the government."

Chuck looked at Sarah, something like revulsion in the pit of his stomach, "You were part of that?"

"Yes and no," she replied with a sigh willing him to understand her position in all this. "I was scheduled to be one of the agents in the program once it got past testing. So was Bryce for that matter. It's how we met. We came in after the initial testing had been started and looked promising to start workups in preparation for taking downloads. We were there for all of a week when one of the test subjects had the first psychotic break and killed two orderlies and one of the scientists before we were able to take him down."

"By take him down you mean…"

"I distracted him while Bryce put a kitchen knife through his throat. We didn't know where the sedatives were and he was on a killing spree," she was trying to explain the necessity to him. Her eyes were literally pleading with him for understanding.

Chuck nodded at her; she really couldn't have done anything else. He supposed maybe she and Bryce could have worked out a way to take the person alive but at this point that was Monday morning quarterbacking, he wasn't there, it wasn't his place to judge.

Sarah went on. "By the end of the month, all of the subjects had started showing signs. Time from download to effect seemed to be about 6 weeks, for the folks that had not shown the effects of going over the limit. For those that did well, 48 hours later was when the first subject lost it. They'd already put 4 other subjects over the limit. They stopped immediately with the other 16, but it was already too late."

Chuck took a breath, he really didn't want to ask this next question but he had to, "So are you expecting me to go crazy? Is that why the two of you are here to take me down if I start putting others in danger?" He wasn't sure if he was angry or just disappointed at this point. He knew he was safe, but that didn't mean they wouldn't try to kill him. Playing this game just wasn't any fun.

"We don't know if you're going to go crazy Chuck," Sarah said looking at the ground, tears starting to pool in her eyes. "The download Bryce sent you was the full database, nobody was ever supposed to download the whole thing. Technically you're carrying over one thousand times the data that was ever downloaded to a subject. You should be a jibbering mess not even able to form words and drooling in the corner, but you're not. Something is different about you and whatever it is may keep you from going crazy as well. I really hope so, because I don't want anything to happen to you." She looked back up at him her eyes glistening.

Chuck looked over at Casey. "I'm here for exactly what you think. Protection if you're threatened by an outside source, but if it looks like you're going off the reservation I'm going to put a bullet in your brainpan," Casey was deadly serious looking Chuck in the eyes.

"Always good to know where a U.S. citizen stands with his government I suppose," Chuck said staring right back eyes cold as deep space. Casey looked away first. 'Maybe he isn't a burnt out robot.' "Well Sarah, I really hope I don't disappoint you. So this test is scheduled for tomorrow night?" he asked.

"Yes," Casey replied with a wary look at Chuck.

"Is the safe house all wired and ready to go?" he asked.

"Not yet, I thought we'd do it tomorrow before the good doctor showed up."

Chuck stood up and held his hand out to Sarah to help her up. "No time like the present, and I'd like to see the basement beforehand so I know how to dress for the inquisition, because 'Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition'." Casey grunted what may have been a chuckle, Sarah just looked confused. "We are apparently going to have to have an essential Monty Python night."

He headed to the door with Sarah. Casey got up and followed them out.

* * *

_A/N2: So I know that Director Graham and General Beckmen weren't actually introduced to Chuck until Wookie, but that didn't make that much sense in a timeline where Chuck knows the score, so here they are two episodes early. Also meet Chuck's boss the one who's actually in charge of this misadventure. Not nearly as formal as the other two is she, but I recommend staying on her good side._

_So next time, .vs the Helicopter. We'll get a tiny glimpse as to why demons run. See you then._


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: Thanks once more to all of you who have read, followed, favorited, and expecially reviewed. _

_Ok. I admit, I kind of let my imagination go a little wild on this one, but it was so much fun I couldn't help it. This chapter is designed to show in part why there is nothing more terrible than a good man gone to war, and why if that good man is an engineer you're well and truely screwed. And not in the fun way._

_Standard disclaimers apply, I don't own Chuck, I'm just having a bit of fun in somebody elses sandbox. I'm not making any money at this. If you're looking for cannon, boy are you in the wrong place. But if you'r looking for canon, I recommend the Imperial War Museum in London, GB_

_P.S. A/N 2 has some explanaitons about the beginning here._

* * *

Chuck pulled up to the safe house the next day and parked his Charger in the garage. They'd taken a tour the previous night and he and Casey had wired the place while Sarah walked the grounds and the house checking the security system, the fields of fire and choke points in the house.

Chuck turned off the engine and pulled out his phone. He dialed Anna's direct number. "So are we all set for the show?" he asked.

"All set to get wet," came the response back. "We sent in a team after you left and hijacked the line to the basement. What you'll see is the feed plus a script to read. The images are being redirected into a database query. We'll lock out all other queries while the test is going on to improve response time. You should be able to fool everybody into thinking you are in fact loaded with all these secrets."

"Are we sure this is necessary?" Chuck asked. "While I admit I'm not a big fan of Graham or Beckman, I kind of like Sarah, and Casey is growing on me. Sort of like a fungus. And after the discussion I had last night I'm pretty sure I don't want to encourage either Graham or Beckman to continue testing on this abomination"

"Chuckles," Anna replied, "Morgan is your best friend, I question all your personal relationship choices based on that alone. But you're also my friend so you get some points back for that. As to the rest, that's up to the boss to put the kibosh on. I'm pretty sure that we'll be able to stop them from continuing on with this disaster."

"Well I gotta trust the boss, but this is still going to worry me. And Morgan is a good guy," Chuck felt he had to defend the bearded wonder.

"I know and I know he had your back for years, but you have to admit he is a bit of an oddball."

"This from the woman who hacks satellites and opposition security systems for a job and has a huge beanie baby collection in her spare bedroom?"

"Do not dis the beanie babies," came the immediate response. He could actually hear the smile in her voice.

"I apologize, the beanie baby is the crowning achievement of stuffed collectibles," he smirked as he replied. "Still are we sure we can't just tell them. This is going to cause issues when we do tell them, and like I said, I kind of like Sarah."

"Apology accepted, and I know you hate lying. That's one of the great things about you, but for right now we need to hold off telling them anything. The guys running the background checks are working overtime, we actually managed to bypass a bunch of stuff using the Intersect, but they want a day to run a second check on Sarah's father. He wasn't a very nice guy. Probably why she's such a good spy, well that and the fact that Graham is a bigger douche than we thought. Did you know he recruited her after having her father arrested at the age of 17?"

"Ok, no I didn't know about that, but given my history that's not all that unusual, of course I did volunteer. Yeah, I take it back; Graham just made my list of people that need a talking to. Anything we need to worry about with the father?" Now he was concerned. He might have been underselling how much he liked Sarah.

"No, I talked to the guy in charge, he doesn't see anything to indicate that her father has any more control over her than any other father would, probably a great deal less actually, but given his history they wanted to take a second look. I expect I'll be getting a call by tomorrow morning with clearance for everybody we are going to read in. As for Graham, the boss already has him on her list, really wouldn't want to be him when she finally gets around to him. By the way, the other thing you suck at is hiding how much you like this girl. Good for you Chuck, nice to see you back in the game."

"Thanks Anna, I think." He'd have to remember to point one of the newer team guys at her in payback when he got back to the shop. "It's time for me to get into position, talk to you later."

"Good luck Chuck," she said as he disconnected.

Chuck got out of the car and popped the trunk. He grabbed a black duffel and closed the lid. He carried it inside and down into the basement with him. He put the bag next to a chair in the basement that was situated in front of a large screen TV that was supposed to serve as the external monitor showing him the pictures from the test. He unzipped the bag and rifled through it for a minute. Satisfied with what he found he zipped it back up and sat in the chair awaiting the test.

Ten minutes later the screen in front of him came to life. The edges were individual video feeds from around the safe house, in the middle where the script would be scrolling he saw a note from Anna:

'Forgot to tell you we wired the house for video. You can see what's going on upstairs so you don't get surprised. We're watching too, if somebody looks like they're coming down we'll drop power to the video repeater and cut the screen to black. Sorry.'

'Good to know,' he thought. He watched Sarah and Casey lead a medium height thin man into the living room. He seemed vaguely sinister looking, but he was probably just imagining that. The scientist brought out a laptop and plugged the external video port into the repeater he and Casey had set up the night before. The bottom right corner of the screen now showed the computer screen from the laptop.

"Patient X, are you ready," came the question from the creepy looking scientist.

"Sure, let 'er rip," Chuck replied sitting back in the chair.

The first picture showed up, and the test began. The center of the screen came up with "No Match Found" so he replied with what was in the picture. The second and third were the same which made him think that something might be wrong, but the fourth picture caused a very detailed report to show on the screen which he dutifully started to paraphrase so it didn't sound like it came straight from a computer.

The test went on for more than an hour until the very last picture came up with another "No Match Found."

"That's the end of the test Patient X, thank you for your time." On the screen the intercom was turned off but thanks to the thoughtful team that reworked the house the previous night and Anna back at the shop he was able to listen in.

"That was amazing," the scientist was saying as he began packing his laptop and notes back into his bag. "100% total recall, no missed data, and no false positives. I really must meet Patient X, he could be the key to making the whole system work the way we designed it."

'Like I'd ever allow that,' thought Chuck.

"I'm sorry Doctor," Sarah was saying, "but for right now we need to keep Patient X's identity a secret for both your safety and his."

"Are you sure I couldn't just talk to him some more? The data I could get from studying him…"

"No, I'm afraid that's impossible," Sarah stated a little more forcefully this time.

"You know the rules Doctor Zarnow," Casey said entering the debate. "For the moment this is all we're allowed, I'm sure after everything is settled down you'll get a chance to talk to the patient further and do some more testing. Right now we just need the preliminary results."

"Yes, yes," Zarnow said, "At the moment things look incredibly good. You haven't noticed any signs of memory loss or psychosis have you?"

"No, none so far," Casey put in. Chuck smiled when he saw the glare Casey got from Sarah at the 'so far' statement. He also noticed Zarnow seemed to take an interest in Sarah's reaction too. 'Now that's interesting,' he thought.

"Come on Doctor, I'll see you to your car," Sarah said as she led Dr. Zarnow to the door.

Chucks screen sprung back to life, a picture of Anna in the center. "Chuck, suit up, Zarnow is a traitor. He's been selling high level intel to the North Koreans."

Chuck dove for his bag as soon as he saw the look on Anna's face. From the inside of the bag he pulled a Desert Eagle 50AE pistol and two black magazines out, after a second he pulled out an orange one as well. He also grabbed a pair of tactical glasses and an over the ear com device which he put on his right ear as he raced up the stairs slamming one of the black magazines home and charging the weapon.

"Chuck, Zarnow just pulled some sort of dart gun on Sarah and shot her," came Anna's voice over the com set. "She's unconscious. Casey has obviously tweaked to something being wrong he's headed for the door. Take the back door and come around the driveway side of the house fast, you should be able to get into position while Zarnow is distracted."

Chuck swung around the side of the house as he heard a shot ring out. "What just happened?" He'd slowed slightly and now had his gun in front of him in a tactical approach around the side of the house.

"Zarnow changed the dart gun for a 9 mil, Casey took one in the leg. I think it might have hit the femoral artery from the placement and amount of blood he's losing. Chuck hold for 10 seconds, we're going to have to let Zarnow go for now or we're going to lose Casey."

"Shit!" Chuck cursed as he held position, he took a moment to change the black magazine for the orange one and re-charge the weapon. He stayed in place until he heard the car carrying Zarnow and Sarah start up, then sprinted around the house as the car started to pull away. He took careful aim and fired one shot at the right rear quarter panel. The gun made a much quieter sound than anyone who had heard one being fired before would have expected, and there was minimal kick. A splotch of green appeared on the car and then faded to transparent. "Tracking gel in place right rear quarter. Tell me you have a solid lock."

He could hear Anna typing furiously in the background, "Satellite has a solid lock and I've got a Predator up, locked on and in orbit. Medivac is already in route time to your location 5 minutes, time to hospital from your location 10 minutes. You need to get him stabilized fast or he isn't going to make it."

Chuck ran to the front of the house and found Casey in a growing pool of blood barely conscious. Casey had his belt off obviously trying to get a tourniquet in place but he was losing strength as he lost blood. Chuck grabbed the belt from him and quickly looped it around his leg drawing the belt through the buckle. He pulled out his utility tool and used it to punch a new hole in the belt so he could close the buckle just a little loose around the leg. Casey had also pulled out an expandable baton. Chuck grabbed it and hit the button causing the baton to spring to its full length. He stuck the baton between the belt and Casey's leg and started to twist. After a couple of turns the bleeding lessened. After another half turn it had slowed enough that it should be survivable. Chuck slipped off his own shirt as he heard the ambulance coming down the street and used it to tie off the baton holding pressure on the tourniquet. He quickly searched Casey's pockets as the paramedics exited the ambulance. He threw one of them the wallet he'd found with Casey's NSA ID in it.

"This man is an NSA agent. He's been shot probably hitting the femoral artery. I've got a tourniquet in place but he's lost quite a bit of blood. Take care of him." With that Chuck scooped up his own weapon and started back into the house.

"Where are you going?" asked the paramedic he'd thrown the ID to as he kneeled down next to Casey and began opening his kit.

"To war," was the bleak reply Chuck whispered to low for the paramedics to hear him as he entered the house changing magazines in his pistol again.

Chuck re-entered the basement and went to his bag. He started pulling out a set of charcoal BDUs, a spandex like body suit, and a set of heavy body armor. He quickly stripped down and started dressing in the items from the bag, bodysuit, BDUs then upper and lower armor. His body armor had his holster and ammo pouches pre-attached. After dressing he slammed his pistol into its holster, pulled a large knife from the bag and put it in a sheath on his chest. Finally he pulled a S.T.A.R-21 rifle from the now empty bag and headed back up the stairs. The police were starting to arrive, when one of them yelled at him to freeze, he simply turned to the officer and popped open an ID wallet with his Marshal's badge in it. "Do you really want to get into a pissing match with a Federal officer while another is bleeding on the front porch? One call and you'll all be working meter maid duty for the next decade."

The officers looked at him, his ID, and then the look on his face and wisely chose to holster their weapons. "Any way we can be of assistance sir?" One of them asked.

"Yeah, seal the crime scene, there will likely be some additional federal agents here shortly to start cleaning this up. I don't have time, there's another agent in trouble."

He entered the garage and got into his Charger. He spoke as he put the car in reverse and nailed the accelerator, "Systems on voice command, confirm."

"Voice commands accepted." Came out of the speakers.

"Performance full release, go silent, engage active armor systems, release weapons systems for combat. Execute." He could feel the car change underneath him as the active handling systems came online dropping the car's center of gravity and making a series of aerodynamic changes to the shell drastically changing the performance. The car also passed an electrical charge through the outer shell causing a significant change in structural integrity making the vehicle not impervious but the next best thing, and finally all the artificial noise used to make the car sound like a car was turned off.

"Call Operator," was his next command. "Operator online," came Anna's response.

"Operator, Hammer is online, I need live navigation to intercept the vehicle that left my location."

Anna's voice came back over the speakers, "Confirmed Hammer, I'll take you in. From the looks of things he's headed to the warehouses by the docks. He'll be there around 3 minutes before you. I'm starting another Predator to check the area ahead of you, and the boss ordered the ready team launched. ETA is 5 minutes after you get there. I'd recommend a 5 minute hold but I know you aren't going to go for it."

For the next 5 minutes he took directions from Anna vectoring him around and through the traffic pattern at speeds that would have terrified Dominic Toretto. "Hammer we have a problem."

"What now?"

"I have what looks an awful lot like a North Korean commando team set up around and in the warehouse Zarnow pulled into. Thermal has Agent Walker likely hanging from a pipe by her wrists in the middle of the building with what I'm guessing is an interrogation team getting ready to work on her. You're 1 minute out, but I don't think you're going to have the luxury of getting into position quietly. I'm guessing they're going to start some really bad shit, very quickly. They know they don't have a lot of time, hopefully they don't know how little they have."

Chuck pulled to a stop. "Put an overlay of my approach and the warehouse on my HUD." The wireframe of the warehouse with the road leading up to it and the locations of the people involved popped up seconds later. "Ok, we do this the hard way. Dynamic vehicular entry north wall."

He nailed the accelerator again and the car leapt forward. "Weapons systems, select point defense turrets, set room sweeper mode, smart rounds at zero over-penetration. Designate hostage as friendly in auto target, hold on confirmation before firing. " He had just ordered his computer to take control of the four 50 caliber machine guns mounted in the corners of the car. It would take the feeds from his own sensors and the 2 Predators and turn it into a 3-D targeting map. Each round would be set to explode at a specific point in its trajectory to keep the rounds from over penetrating and leaving the warehouse. The computer would tentatively mark what they believed to be Sarah as a friendly and set all targeting to prevent injuring her. It would not take a single shot until he verbally confirmed the correct target had been identified as friendly.

He came around the last corner all four tires squealing but no other sounds being made. A few seconds later small arms fire started dinging off his reinforced shell. Fifteen seconds after that he crashed the Charger through the north wall of the warehouse at over 30 miles per hour. He immediately hit the brakes, and the car rapidly decelerated until it stopped with the front bumper barely touching Sarah's legs. After a quick check to ensure the targeting system did indeed have Sarah marked as a friendly, "Friendly confirmed, weapons free."

At these commands four turrets two pointing forward and two pointing aft popped out of the top of the fenders and quarter-panels and began firing. While they were machine guns they weren't firing on full auto. The computer was firing 3 round bursts into each target and moving on to the next target. Each gun could engage a different target every second and in three seconds all 11 adversaries inside the warehouse including Zarnow were stains on the floor.

"Operator, designate targets as necessary to maintain security, computer transition to operations control."

"Operations control confirmed," came from the computer.

"I've got your back Hammer," Anna's voice over the speakers and his com unit. The rear turrets started intermittent fire on targets outside the warehouse, paying no attention to walls in the way as Anna changed the weapons from zero over-penetration to armor piercing.

Chuck exited the car and pulled his pistol from its holster. Sarah's eyes got huge at the site of Chuck in his body armor carrying a handgun that could be used for hunting grizzly bear. "Chuck, what is going on?"

"I'll explain it all later. Right now let's get you out of here." He took aim at her handcuffs and blew through the chain and the pipe that was holding her up. Thankfully it was empty or she'd have been dowsed in whatever it had carried. "Now get in, it's time to go."

As they got in Anna's voice came over the speakers, "Hammer, assault team is 45 seconds out. We still have several tangos active, you're on the ground, how do you want to play this?"

"Who's flying?"

"Wild Bill."

"Tell Bill to bring the rain."

"Roger that hold position."

Chuck looked over at Sarah, her eyes were wide staring at him. He had a feeling the surprise had less to do with the action and violence that had just occurred, and more to do with the fact that he was the one that did it. He gave her a small, hopefully reassuring smile. "There's a reason my call sign is Hammer."

About 15 seconds later the sound of a great many large caliber bullets hitting the ground rent the air. Five seconds later it was silent. "All tangos down, Hammer you are clear to exit the building."

"Roger that, Hammer is exiting the building plus one. Tell Bill not to shoot me or I'll get cranky. All weapons revert to local control, weapons safe, home all weapon pods." The four turrets returned to their home position and retracted back into the body of the car leaving almost no trace they had ever been there.

Chuck slowly backed out of the warehouse and turned the car toward the water. In front of them there was a very strange looking flying machine. It resembled a V22 Osprey, but was quite a bit larger, didn't have propellers and yet was still just hovering there in front of them. On each side of the fuselage there was an enormous Gatling gun and from the back soldiers wearing armor very much like Chuck's were fast roping down to secure the perimeter.

Chuck glanced surreptitiously to the side, to see Sarah's reaction. She caught his glance held it and said, "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do."

* * *

_A/N 2. Because I'm playing in somebody else's sandbox, and this isn't a purely original work, I feel I owe you the reader a little explanation here, so please before getting out the torches and pitchforks, hear me out. I'm actually hoping this wasn't much of a surpirse, I've left a few clues along the way, of course if the clues were any good only you can decide._

_There's something that bothered me with the original story that led me here. The intersect data was built around making pictures out of pictures, we learned that in Alma Mater (I've got some great ideas for the rework of that episode). It is honestly a great idea, and I applaud the creators of the show for coming up with it as a concept for the Intersect. Here's the problem: Chuck wasn't intersected at a speciallized location. He didn't have a 15 foot high by 30 foot wide purpose built screen to take the download from. He was looking at a standard, let's be gernerous and say 27 inch, flat screen monitor. It simply does not have the resolution to do the job. There's a reason the intersect room looks like it does, and why Fulcrum was using a drive in movie theater screen. (I also think the cipher had to be the graphics processor not the main CPU, but I digress.) There are other technical issues, but that one is good enough._

_So given that, I made a decision to keep the concept of the intersect, but not allow Chuck to get 'uploaded' with it because I want the story to go differently. I obviously don't have any real problems with suspension of disbelief, or having things that can't possibly exist in real life in the story, I mean you read this chapter right? I am not trying to make Chuck any less special, but I want him to be special for who he is not what he is, if that makes sense._

_Next chapter is kind of transitional, but the following one will give some more in depth explanations as to what really went on when Chuck got that email. Thanks for reading._


	9. Chapter 9

_AN: Thanks again to everyone who's read, followed, favorited and reviewed. You guys still bring a smile to my face._

_As mentioned last chapter this one is mostly transitional coming out of all the action last chapter. _

_As always standard disclaimers apply, I don't own Chuck just playing in somebody else's sandbox. If you're looking for cannon you took a wrong turn in Albuquerque. If you're looking for canon you can try the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park in Wheaton, IL_

* * *

Chuck glanced surreptitiously to the side, to see Sarah's reaction. She caught his glance held it and said in an assumed Cuban accent, "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do."

Chuck's jaw dropped open in shock. 'Did Sarah Walker just quote I Love Lucy? This might be one of the signs of the apocalypse.' One of the things their conversations had revealed was that Sarah had almost no pop culture references to work with. Not that Lucy was all that pop anymore so maybe this wasn't such a stretch.

Sarah reached over and pushed his jaw back up saying, "Yes, I did watch I Love Lucy reruns when I was a kid, deal with it. Now 'splain."

"That's pretty good," Chuck replied. "If you'd have quoted Star Wars instead I might have had to ask you to marry me."

"Oh god, I'm still online here Chuck, could you two at least wait until you're out of the combat area before the flirting starts?" came Anna's voice out of the speakers and com set again.

"So you're going to have to tell me if there are any special connotations to this Hammer call sign you've managed to pick up? I might be interested in a demonstration. And you still aren't explaining." Sarah complained.

"Still right here," came through the speakers.

"That's ok Anna," Chuck said, "we can tone down the flirting for you."

"We can?" asked Sarah. "I wasn't even aware we were doing it."

"Chuck if you come back with what I expect you to there, I'm going to set your sound system to a 24 hour Polka channel."

"What is she talking about?" asked Sarah.

"I'll explain it later. Threats about Polka are not to be taken lightly."

"Really?"

"I'm not willing to risk it. Ok Operator, what's the current status?"

"Satellite and Predator imagery has been confirmed by the assault team. All opposition is down, no survivors unfortunately because a live North Korean commando might have been useful diplomatically. The boss is already talking to her bosses about it and everybody's pretty much agreed that given time constraints and imminent risk to Agent Walker you acted within our operations mandate so no trouble on that front. Your bird is inbound we're going to ask you to bring Agent Walker back for debrief as well, after which the boss has already issued the order to read her in. 'She knows enough to be dangerous and not enough to be able to adequately cover up,' were the exact words out of her mouth. So Agent Walker, if you wait a bit you'll get the full explanation when you get back to base. Please just be patient with our boy until then ok?"

"Ok, but I expect somebody to tell me what the hell is going on here." Sarah grumped.

"This is going to be just lovely, ETA on my bird?" Chuck asked.

"Three minutes. You're cleared to leave as soon as it gets there. It's Team 2's site now and local FBI is inbound."

"Roger that. Really glad I don't have to explain this to the local FBI folks."

"You and me both brother," replied Anna.

* * *

Minutes later another aircraft came into view and then landed on the pier next to the helicopter that had apparently been the getaway vehicle for this evening's activities. It was different than the other, not quite as big and the lines were sleeker but it shared a lot of the other features.

"This was the prototype," Chuck answered Sarah's unspoken question, as he started the car toward the lowering ramp at the back of the aircraft. "There're two of them actually, built before we changed the main body design to make it more useful and cheaper. This design was smaller and significantly more aerodynamic, allowing for flight faster than Mach 5. When we started to look at the mission profiles and how we were going to deliver them to the AOs we realized that we didn't need that kind of speed so we could upsize the fuselage a bit and give it more cargo room, which has honestly been a godsend."

He pulled slowly up the ramp, and came to a stop in the cargo bay. There was approximately 6 additional feet of length to the bay but they barely had enough room to exit the doors of the Charger. The car settled into a place obviously made to hold it, and there were a series of mechanical whines followed by four solid mechanical clanks. Chuck opened his door and motioned for Sarah to get out. He continued his explanation, "The two prototypes and their dedicated mother craft were going to be mothballed and probably crushed, but I convinced them to let me play with them some more. I upgraded the weapons systems, dumped a bunch of cargo space so now it will only carry my Charger or something around that size, and used the additional room for fuel and ammo. We've talked about adding 2 more to give us a full flight but they would be immensely expensive to build and we've only really ever used the full capability of one once."

They were going through a narrow corridor towards the cockpit. When they got there it was empty, with no sign of the pilot that had landed it. Sarah looked over at Chuck for an explanation but he seemed to be somewhere else, and that somewhere was apparently not a happy place given the look on his face.

"Where's the pilot?" Sarah asked hoping to snap him back to the present as well as satisfy her curiosity.

"You're looking at him," was Chuck's response. He smiled at her shaking off the pensive mood. "But if you're talking about who flew this in, it came in on remote, one of the pilots back home brought it over from where I had it stored in a hanger at Edwards." He buckled himself into the left seat, put on a flight helmet and motioned Sarah to do the same on the right hand side. He quickly ran through his own preflight and brought all the internal instruments online. The various multi-function displays came to life and he took the controls and lifted off the ground. "Operator, do I have a taxi waiting?" he asked.

"Hammer you have a Clipper in orbit at angels 30, thirty miles due west of your location. You should have them on your tracking screen."

"Confirmed Operator, I'm heading for pickup. See you in a few." With that he slammed the throttles forward and sent the plane rocketing skyward.

* * *

A bit later a huge aircraft that looked like some sort of wedge with tiny wings appeared before them. Chuck came in from on top and slowed to match the other craft's velocity. Up close it was even bigger than it looked on approach. As he came in closer a hatch opened across the whole top of the larger plane and a cradle came out.

"You are not serious!" exclaimed Sarah.

"What, you've never seen two planes dock before?"

"You're nuts!" she grabbed on to the armrests of her seat to keep herself from grabbing the controls and trying to stop this insanity.

"Relax, the computers do most of the work. We're really just along for the ride now." The two planes matched course and speed exactly, and the smaller settled gently into the cradle of the larger shutting down its engines as the cradle clamped them in. A humming sound could be heard as the wings folded back to allow for being stored in the mother ship. They were then lowered slowly into the cargo bay which was obviously designed to hold both this plane and its larger sister, at which point the doors closed blotting out the sky. Seconds later they were both pushed back into their seats as the Clipper began acceleration and changed course.

"This is actually a very old concept, goes all the way back to the blimps of WWI," Chuck said locking down the controls. "They used to carry biplane interceptors, making them sort of aerial aircraft carriers. They tried the same thing with the B36 Peacemaker during the early cold war, but the faster speeds and higher turbulence plus the lack of anything like a computer control system made it a horrible disaster. We just took the idea and added modern avionics and advanced knowledge of airflow mechanics and it's a lot easier now. Plus we cheat a lot. I don't know if you noticed by right before we married up we slowed down to well below normal cruising using our VTOL capability and that of the Clipper to keep us all airborne and slow enough for the marriage to not be much worse than a helicopter landing on the deck of a destroyer in light seas."

"And that's it until we get back to Scott AFB," Chuck said sitting back in is seat. "It should take us around 20 minutes since we aren't going far enough to warrant a ballistic course touching outer space. Sorry no astronaut's wings for you today, we'll just be sub orbital for this one."

"Ok, seriously, who are you people?" Sarah asked looking about with complete astonishment on her face, and maybe a little bit of fear. Like most spies she really didn't much like surprises and this was about as much of a surprise as she was likely ever to receive. "What are you planning to do to me?"

"Relax Sarah, we're just going back to base where we need to go through debrief on the action we just went through. And as you heard Anna say, after the debrief they're going to read you in on our little operation. There's nothing to worry about, and we'll probably be back in Burbank later tonight." He looked down at his watch seeing it was already 10pm. "Ok, maybe tomorrow morning. We'll have to come up with some sort of excuse for Ellie. Crap, this was supposed to be my vacation, remind me to hurt… somebody for this disaster later." He stopped himself just before mentioning Bryce and causing Sarah more pain about that particular part of her life. He could see he wasn't really successful by the look on her face.

"I'm sorry Sarah. I didn't really mean anything by that. If it makes you feel any better, I do look on meeting you as worth all the rest of the stuff we've gone through."

"That's ok, I was just thinking about 'Bryce the idiot' who started this whole thing. We did have some good times before it all went to hell. And I agree that meeting you was worth this. I'm just glad you were able to pull me out of there before they really started on me. Not sure if my opinion wouldn't have changed in that case." She wasn't exactly smiling, but it was as close as he figured she was likely to be for awhile. He could see that the euphoria that followed the rescue and had caused Sarah to start the over the top flirting had led to the inevitable emotional crash and speculation on what could have happened. He changed the subject as quickly as he could and they chatted about anything inconsequential he could think of. He'd had this experience on more than a few missions. The psych folks had taught the teams how to keep the extractee distracted until they were somewhere support could be given. Which was also why they took the Clipper instead of flying back to base. It provided a kind of distraction that only that unique piece of hardware could.

* * *

After landing and what felt like an elevator ride, the upper doors opened again giving them a view of the ceiling of a large aircraft hangar. Their plane was once again lifted in its cradle out of the cargo bay where it was immediately picked up by an overhead crane and moved onto another platform. That platform then moved them into a storage rack of sorts along the walls. Sarah was obviously having a hard time taking it all in.

"I know right, it's like a real life scene from a James Bond film, all we need are some ninjas running through training exercises and maybe Desmond Llewelyn or John Cleese doing testing in a corner somewhere." Chuck's eyes were lit up and a smile was on his face. He really hoped she was at least a little impressed.

Unfortunately she stared back at him blankly. "Desmond Llewelyn?"

"You know 'Q' from the Bond films."

"Sorry, no idea there, but the base is really impressive."

"I've so got to make you watch at least some of the Bond movies," Chuck muttered. "What kind of spy doesn't know 'Q'?"

At this point a new voice came over their headsets, "Hammer you are clear to deplane, Angel and Operator will meet you in conference room 1." With that the com suite went quiet. Chuck reached up and hit a button on the console and the displays went dark and the controls went offline. He began removing his restraints, then got up and checked to make sure Sarah was clear of them as well. They headed aft past the Charger and came to the rear access door. Chuck reached up and pushed the ramp release and the rear door slowly lowered to the ground.

"We'll head up to the secure conference level, if you need to freshen up or anything there are facilities up there you can use. Is that ok?" Chuck asked.

"That's fine Chuck, we might as well get this show on the road," was Sarah's response.

Chuck led the way to the hatch at the back of the storage area where their platform had been placed. From the edge of the platform, various maintenance personnel were making an appearance obviously preparing to service the vehicles on the platform.

The hatch led to a long circular hallway that went around the hangar area. There were doors on the side away from the hangar, and hatches into the hangar on the other side of the hallway, and elevators at regular intervals on the outside wass. They approached an elevator marked 'Secure Conference Room Access' and Chuck put his hand on a plate on the wall. Seconds later the door opened and they entered the elevator. He pushed a button and the doors closed and the elevator started to move up. They exited into another hallway, also curved, but this one was short and only 4 doors marked 1 through 4 visible on the inside wall of the curve plus a men's room and a women's room were on the outside wall. They headed to the door marked 1.

Chuck paused in front of the door, reached over, squeezed Sarah's hand for a second and looked at her, "Ready for this?"

"I'm honestly not sure, I was apparently woefully under briefed for this assignment, and I don't like surprises. They tend to get people in my line of work killed." She was definitely looking apprehensive.

"You'll be fine, I'm sure you've been through debriefs before. I can't imagine it will be much different. If anybody is going to get beat up in there it's going to be me for letting you get taken in the first place. Time to face the music I suppose," he let go of her hand, regretting the lack of contact almost immediately, and from the look that briefly passed over her face before her professional mask came down, he wasn't the only one. He reached up and put his hand on the panel causing the door to buzz and unlock. He grabbed the handle and opened it ushering Sarah in ahead of him.

* * *

_AN2: Ok first the comment about asking Sarah to marry him is a reference to NinjaVanish's Chuck vs. The Sunken Treasure. If you haven't read it I recommend it to you. I really wanted that line, and it's only fair to give credit where it's due. _

_Next time on A Good Man Goes to War: Sarah finally finds out what the hell it is that Chuck does._


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: Thank you again to everyone who's read, followed, favorited and especially reviewed. Even those of you who think I'm off my rocker, which in retrospect may mean you are paying more attention, just sayin'._

_Ok, Sarah gets her explanation here. I hope you guys aren't disappointed, we've been a long time getting here._

_So standard disclaimers, I don't own Chuck, just playing with somebody else's toys. Not earning any money at this probably for good reason. If you're looking for cannon you're in the wrong place. In place of my normal canon comment see A/N2._

* * *

Chuck held the door for Sarah as she entered the conference room. The wall opposite the door was a huge window looking out over the vehicle bay, and sloped out so you could see straight down if you leaned over a bit. Directly in front of the window was a large oblong conference table with 6 sides, at which two women were sitting. One was around Chuck and Sarah's age, maybe a bit younger. She was a pint sized Asian with jet black hair with pink streaks, in pigtails of all things and a makeup job that wouldn't have looked out of place at a punk rock concert. She had an over the ear com device like the one Chuck and the team at the docks had worn, and was wearing charcoal BDUs with a pair of boots that were obviously not standard issue with chrome buckles, and a black belt with a chrome skull belt buckle. The other woman Sarah recognized from the meeting before this whole adventure began. Sherrie wore a black business suit coat with a white blouse and matching skirt. One thing that Sarah hadn't been able to tell during the video conference was that she quite obviously had a prosthetic leg, but not one designed to try and blend in. It was all titanium and chrome with the mechanisms exposed. She also had on one of the com sets, and was obviously listening to something on it when they walked in staring off to the side. The younger woman immediately got up, came around the table, and held out her hand to Sarah.

"Hello Agent Walker, I'm Anna Wu, we talked in the car," she said when Sarah took her hand. Anna turned to Chuck and gave him an obviously fake scowl. "I'd say good to see you too Chuckles, but you were supposed to stay out of trouble on vacation, not go looking for it the second nobody was watching you," she said while simultaneously punching him in the arm to emphasize her point. She turned back to Sarah, "You have to watch him like a 2 year old," she complained. "The second you turn your back he's out sticking a fork in the electrical outlet or jumping off the roof trying to fly like Superman."

"Hey," Chuck put on an offended look, "I'm right here, and I do not go out looking for trouble. I don't have to, it almost always finds me. Plus I'm more than capable of taking care of myself thank you very much."

"Sure you are," Sherrie broke in walking up to the group. "That's why I have Anna here tasked with watching your butt every time you walk out the door."

"Sarah, this is Sherrie Angle, she runs the show around here, I know you've met on the conference line, but official introductions are always better in person," Chuck said. "Sherrie this is Agent Sarah Walker CIA."

"Good to meet you in person Sarah," Sherrie smiled holding out her hand, "I do wish the reasons were a bit less dramatic."

"I'm just hoping you'll finally tell me what's going on here," Sarah replied taking it and shaking. "So you run this place?"

"Well as much as anyone can with this merry band of miscreants running loose." Sherrie said with a smile. "Speaking of which, Chuck they've turned over your incident scene to the FBI, since it was a foreign power acting on US soil nobody really wants it, but it's the FBI's job so they're stuck. I think the State Department is looking to horn in, but the FBI is probably going to maintain control once the idiot running State realizes just what kind of a disaster it would be to actually bring this thing into the light. The FBI is really good at burying this stuff and making sure anybody that got missed is either taken into custody or kicked the hell out."

"Well, given that we'd already completed our mandate, not sure what else we would do with it," replied Chuck.

"Exactly," was Anna's response. "I always hate operations on US soil; cleanups are always easier when it's not our yard we're playing in."

"By cleanup you mean vanishing into thin air as all the kings horses and all the kings men sit around wondering what the hell just happened and getting nowhere with it?" Chuck asked with a smile.

"Yep, way easier that way," Anna replied with a smirk.

"So Sarah," Sherrie began heading back to the table. All four of them took seats at one end of the table Sherrie and Anna on one side, Chuck and Sarah on the other. "You being here gives us a unique opportunity. We don't often get a chance to talk to an actual target of one of our operations. You can give us a different perspective of the op than we normally get by helping us understand how it went from your perspective if you're willing."

Sarah looked at Chuck who smiled back encouragingly. "I'll answer what I can."

"Great," Anna said enthusiastically brining up the video screens with the recordings from earlier. "We'll start at the safe house…"

* * *

A surprisingly short time later the debriefing drew to a close. "I think that about does it," said Sherrie leaning back in her chair. "You did very well Sarah, is there anything you'd like to add?"

"Only how grateful I am for what Chuck and all of you did to rescue me. I really don't want to think about what would have happened if you hadn't been there."

Chuck looked to Sherrie feeling a bit uncomfortable with the thanks. Sherrie nodded barely perceptibly giving him the go ahead to continue. "Well, don't be too grateful," he began, "technically you even being in that position was our fault." He couldn't quite look her in the eyes.

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked, looking to Chuck for the answer.

Sherrie answered instead, "What he means is if I hadn't been trying to be clever you would never have been in that situation. Before we go on there's some paperwork."

She took her tablet hit the screen and then set it in front of Sarah. "This is a standard NDA. The penalties for exposing what we're about to talk about to anyone, including your bosses without the express permission of the people in this room, the President or the National Security Advisor are pretty draconian, don't break it, ever."

Sarah used the stylus to sign the screen and handed it back to Sherrie. "Ok, can you explain that last bit to me now? About how this was your fault?" she asked looking at Sherrie.

"We haven't been exactly truthful with you Sarah, or Major Casey, or your bosses," Sherrie began. "Due to the nature of how the database got sent to Chuck, the National Security Advisor on being briefed asked us to look into the matter as an outside agency to see if we could see anything that the CIA and NSA internal investigations were missing. In order to facilitate that I asked Chuck to go along with the misunderstanding you had when Chuck was activated to defuse the Stanfield situation."

"Misunderstanding?" Sarah asked.

Sherrie looked over to Chuck and gave him a slight nod to take over.

"Well," he took a deep breath, "let's get the big lie out of the way first. I did not upload the intersect data into my brain. I do not have a massive database in my head, well short of you know Star Wars quotes and various pop culture references. We were using that as a cover to avoid explaining that we have a computer system that will run the Intersect data just fine thank you and had surveillance up in the L.A. area trying to determine who else might have followed the data to L.A. like the CIA and NSA did."

"But Bryce sent you that email, how did you not see the contents once it started? My understanding from the original project was that disrupting the download after it had started would be disastrous."

"That's where I got lucky," said Chuck. "Bryce sent the download program in a Zork saved game file." When Sarah looked at him like he was speaking Klingon, he chuckled a little and explained. "It's an old style text based adventure game written for really old computers that didn't have graphics. We had played around with our own version while we were rooming together in college. Since it required the actual Zork game to run, I had to find something to run it on. Rather than try to make it run on my computer I logged into our secure server farm and stood up a virtual machine running an old version of a UNIX operating system. I loaded Zork on that and then loaded the saved game file. It left me at a point in the game where I had to attack an Ogre, so I typed in the command and then was incredibly happy I'd put it on our secure farm. Our security system captured the download request to a foreign server and locked it out to a firewalled storage array as soon as it saw the download starting and the size of the file. I got an error on the screen telling me what was going on. I paged Anna to give me a hand, and the two of us chased down where the data had come from, and even managed to figure out what the data was. We started our computers on decrypting and sorting the data as soon as we'd made 2 separate backup copies at geographically disperse server farms. That's where we were when you and I met."

"Wait, but you knew about General Stansfield, and the stuff in the test, you were in that basement, how…"

"The night of your first 'date,'" Anna took up the narrative, "Chuck was wearing an earwig and I fed him the data on the attack because he and Skip were the closest action team to the site and none of the other teams could make it in time. Truthfully we got lucky, our computers were still processing the data into a format they could access better, it just turned out that enough had been processed to recognize the bomber and tie it into the hotel and the itinerary. As for the test, a team went in and rewired the house after you three had left for the night. All the feeds went straight to our computer bank and the screen downstairs showed Chuck the results. He just paraphrased the answers straight off the screen. We made a mistake by taking the live feed offline for everything else to improve performance and maintain our little charade. By the time the computers caught up after being switched back to real time it was too late to prevent your abduction. We're really sorry about that," Anna did look a bit crestfallen.

Chuck looked down at the table refusing to meet Sarah's eyes after that statement. "I couldn't get into position fast enough, and by the time I was, I had to wait and stabilize Casey before I could come after you."

"That's ok Chu… Wait, what do you mean stabilize Casey?!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Oh crap, I forgot to tell you… Casey was shot after you got tranqed. I had a tourniquet on him by the time the ambulance arrived. Anna, do we know how he's doing?"

Anna smirked at him, "He'll be fine. He had to go into surgery to repair the artery that got hit, and he won't really be ready for visitors before the morning so you two will be out of here in plenty of time to see him."

Sarah calmed down at that point. Chuck continued, "So that was the big lie, beyond that while we are in fact part of the Marshals service, we're not quite _**part**_ of the Marshal's service."

"Ok, so who are you people really?" Sarah asked.

"We're the children of a mission that failed." Sherrie answered with a serious face.

Chuck turned to Sarah and continued the story, "We exist because some very good men were killed when the mission they were on went off the rails and the folks running the show dropped the ball. They were well trained but poorly prepared for the environment they were working in and the guys in charge should have called the mission on weather but didn't. The odds really weren't with them but they went in anyway and some of them died trying. That's what we have to live up to every time we go out."

Sherrie took up the story from there, "Let me fill you in on some little known history. In 1980 after the tragic failure of the original rescue mission in Iran, a second plan was conceived and prepared. Thankfully the hostages were released peacefully before it went forward but the powers that be decided that the specialized equipment and trained personnel that made up the rescue team should be maintained as an operational group with a specific mission to train for. The regular military couldn't really own it since it was likely to have to perform operations on US soil where the military wouldn't be allowed to operate so it was spun off so to speak. The members of the team transferred from military service to of all things the Marshals service, the thinking being that the mission wasn't all that different from fugitive retrieval so it was a closer fit than say the FBI's HRT. We're nominally part of the Marshals Service Special Operations Group, but we don't really report through that structure except when we get brought in as part of a larger operation and even then it's tentative at best. What it does give us is the ability to act on both US and foreign soil legitimately without all the weird politics the other federal agencies have."

"The group was then moved to Scott AFB for a number of reasons. Geography was the primary one, but the chief mobility asset was a set of specially customized Combat Talon C130s and they would fit in just fine here at Scott hiding in plain sight so to speak. Our mission statement is pretty simple and incredibly complex at the same time. We are charged with the covert extraction of any US concerns in imminent danger where direct action by the military is considered untenable. What this means is we go where the military can't go, where the intelligence services won't go, and do the things that need to be done to get our people out of harm's way. Our biggest customer these days is the DEA, followed by the CIA if you're wondering. Many times the extraction isn't necessary after we reduce the opposition, in those cases the extraction target will never even know we were there. It's easier that way." Sherrie looked at Sarah and arched an eyebrow.

Sarah stared at the table for a second and then said, "Venezuela." She spoke quietly, almost a whisper. When she looked up again she could see Anna was puzzled, Chuck looked horrified and Sherrie had an understanding look on her face.

"What about Venezuela?" Sherrie asked, obviously knowing the answer.

"Bryce and I had a mission in Venezuela. It went south in a hurry after we had stolen the briefcase containing the information we were sent after. The mark had access to more than a company of irregulars, a dozen or so technicals, and a helicopter but we never saw more than 5 guys when they caught up with us. Bryce still managed to get caught, and I had to shoot the mark because he was using Bryce as a shield and bargaining chip. I never understood how we got away. We should have been headline news."

Chuck was looking at Sherrie with his mouth hanging open. Anna was now even more confused. "Headline news?" she asked.

"Yeah, you know, 'Two tourists killed in Venezuela. Film at 11,'" Sarah said. She shivered noticeably.

"Chuck here is partially responsible for that not happening," Sherrie explained. "He and that fire breathing Dragon he flies prevented the reinforcements from getting into town and the majority of your mark's men and those vehicles weren't in any condition to cause you problems ever again. The in close work was handled by Team 1. They took down most of the mark's bodyguards before they ever got close. And yes we did have a sniper who was about half a second from pulling the trigger when you took that shot, but you got yourself and Larkin out without any more help than what we had already provided never mind that we had the team ready to extract you cleanly if it had come to that."

Chuck noticed that Sarah was suddenly having a problem looking at him and seemed really nervous. "What is it Sarah?" he asked.

"So you were watching during that whole E&E?" she asked starting at her hands on the table.

"Well no, Michael, the leader of Team 1, knew about my history with Larkin so as soon as I was done interdicting the reinforcements and heavy weapons he ordered me back to base and had one of the other pilots handle the ready support for the team. Why?"

Sarah continued to look down at the table.

It suddenly dawned on him what two young agents who just survived a harrowing near death experience would likely do the second they were clear and reasonably safe. "Oh…" For some reason this actually hurt more than he thought it would. Knowing that Sarah and Bryce had been an item was somehow different than _KNOWING_ they had a physical relationship. He was suddenly very glad that Michael had kicked him out of the country. He'd been livid at the time at not being trusted to be a professional even with it being Bryce Frikkin' Larkin, now not so much. 'Michael always did know best,' he thought to himself. He realized they had better deal with this right now before it got out of control. He looked at Sherrie and Anna, the first obviously realizing what was going on the second clearly confused. "Can we have the room for a few minutes?" he asked.

Sherrie stood and started dragging Anna upright and toward the door. "We'll take a break. Let us know when you're ready to continue." The two women exited the room, the door closing behind them.

* * *

_A/N2: Ok, I didn't finish the whole story, next time you'll get more, but now you know what Chuck's orgainization does for a living. There will be some actual plot movement in the story next time. I know what you're thinking ygbsm, why would you want to confuse us with a plot now? Answer because I can. Muahaha!. Yeah it sounds lame when I cackle like that too._

_In place of my normal recommendation on where to find a canon: The planning for the second attempt at rescuing the hostages in Iran really did happen. The aircraft they came up with was absolutely insane. If you get a chance search youtube for Operation Credible Sport, they created a C130 that could darn near launch itself into the air straight up, and land in less than a soccer field. If you're interested in other info on the project Wikipedia's article is interesting._

_I won't be posting for a a week or two, sorry about that, but real life calls. I wanted this out before then so I didn't leave you hanging too badly. Until next time..._


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: And he's back, well you were warned after all. Thanks to everyone who's read followed, favorited, and especially reviewed._

_Anyway on with the next chapter in which we have some discussion between Chuck and Sarah followed by the inital tasking for the long term mission. (Yes there will actually be a reason to keep the team together, I knew you were all worried.)_

_Standard disclaimers apply, I don't own Chuck, making no money at this, I'm just playing with somebody else's toys. If you're looking for canon, you probably aren't reading by this point so I'm probably talking to dead air if not awesome. If you're looking for cannon, I suggest the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in Dahlgren VA. (They've got a 12 inch railway gun, which is basically a battleship gun for the land. Think about that for a minute.)_

* * *

Chuck turned his seat so that he was looking at Sarah and took one of her hands in his, "Look Sarah, I have no right to judge anything you've done and I'm not going to. Ok, I'll admit I'm a bit jealous of Bryce, especially given my history, but the fact that I detest him has no bearing on any decisions you've made or relationships you've had. I won't lie and tell you that I'm 100% ok with it, but that's my hang-up not yours."

"But you won't look at me the same way anymore will you?" Sarah asked.

Chuck didn't even need to think, "Why would you think that? You're still the same woman you were before, I still..." he stopped for a second trying to find the right word for the situation, "like you a great deal. Yes going from knowing you had a relationship with Bryce, to KNOWING you had a relationship with Bryce caused a gear shift, but that doesn't really impact the way I see you."

"Are you sure Chuck? Because I saw the look on your face when you realized why I was worried you had been running surveillance on Bryce and me after our escape."

"I'm sure Sarah," Chuck answered. "I'm not exactly a saint here, and I really have a bone to pick with Larkin, but that's between Bryce and me. It was that reaction you saw, and I'm sorry about that. I promise not to lie to you about this, if you promise me you'll give me some leeway to work it out. He just pushes all of my buttons, in this case jealousy."

"You do know he's dead right?" she said looking over at him a little sadly, she may have broken up with him but she hadn't wanted him dead. "And even if he wasn't you have nothing to be jealous of, although it's kind of nice to think that you are. Nobody's cared enough about me to be jealous before, especially Bryce."

"Actually I don't know that, and probably won't believe it until I see a body. The guy's too slippery to be sure of without concrete proof," Chuck replied. "I'd love to know what his plan was, especially the endgame, but we don't need to talk about him right now. And while I don't believe you about the jealousy thing, if that's the case it basically shows you've been hanging around with idiots, because I've known you for all of 3 days and I'm certainly a little jealous."

Sarah's jaw dropped at the last statement causing Chuck to realize what he'd just said. "Ah, not in a possessive way or anything, you know just… Aw hell, there isn't any way to make that sound better is there?" he said dropping his head into his hands and turning red. "Maybe I should just go find a quiet corner and shoot myself."

"Actually Chuck, that was really sweet, and just so you know, I'm ok with you being jealous, but honestly I can't imagine what you think you have to be jealous about. The only semi-relationship I've ever had was with Bryce and I told you how that ended. I think I must be broken or something." By the time she finished she was looking down again with a sad look on her face.

"Well as for Bryce, I can absolutely corroborate that he's an idiot, so we know who's at fault for that disaster, and it wasn't you. As for being broken, I don't think so, I heard about when you got recruited and who recruited you. You can't take a 17 year old and train them like I'm sure they did you. There are perceptions you set when you train a spy, and a 17 year old isn't formed well enough to not be affected by that. You aren't broken, you're living with what they taught you and you're just now starting to understand what that did aren't you?" Chuck was staring intently at her hoping she understood what he was saying and why he said it.

Sarah's head had come up while he was speaking and now it was her turn, "How do you know when I was recruited?"

"Anna told me tonight before I went into the safe house. She wanted me to know why you hadn't been cleared already since they had the benefit of the data in the Intersect. They were doing some more checking on your background with your dad, and she told me how Graham had recruited you at the age of 17 after your father was arrested. And before you get mad at me for that, when have I had the chance to talk to you about it?"

Sarah thought for a bit and then nodded, "Ok, I'll accept that, but that just confirms how broken I am."

Chuck cut her off, "No that shows how strong you are. Things like what happened to you only happen in third world cesspools where they take children and mold them into unfeeling monsters to serve the will of the state or of the warlord or whatever. I've learned enough about you and from you in the last three days to know you didn't succumb; you didn't let them take all of you away, and you are worth getting to know and worrying about and yes getting jealous of that idiot Bryce because he got to spend so much time with you." He stopped because Sarah had started to cry. "What's wrong? Did I say something I shouldn't have? Why are you crying?"

Sarah sniffed once and wiped away some tears. She couldn't talk at the moment so she decided to speak with actions. She pushed back her chair, and moved to Chuck's lap and kissed him, hard. When they finally broke the kiss and she leaned her forehead against his she was able to speak again. "Thank you."

"For what?" asked a slightly dazed and very puzzled Chuck.

"For being you," she answered as if that explained everything. Chuck decided not to press at this point even though that didn't make any sense at all to him.

"You're right you know," she continued. "I am starting to realize what I've missed and what I've paid for this job. What I don't know is where to go from here. This is all I know, I can't be anyone else, and for the first time that scares me, but I don't know how to change it. How do I become something other than a con-woman or a spy?"

"Boy are you asking the wrong person," Chuck answered with a chuckle. "I've actually got two years on you, I started at 15, I sort of recruited myself which is another story, but I don't know anything else either really. Granted, given what I've got socked away, I don't really have to do anything, but getting back to your question, do you want to stop being a spy?" he asked.

"I don't really want to stop, but I'm not sure I can continue on. I find I can't trust any of the people I work with. In the last few weeks I've had my handler turn rogue, Graham tell me he couldn't protect someone which points to some real problems in the rest of the agency, and then Bryce goes rogue steals the intersect and sends it to you while getting himself killed. These were the three people I trusted most in the agency. How do I trust anybody inside the agency to keep going? I certainly don't trust anyone enough at this point to go deep cover. I could go diplomatic cover but I don't really have the training for it, so I doubt I'd ever be considered, and taking a desk job means I'm going to be surrounded every day by other people I don't trust even if my life isn't likely to depend on them. I just don't see how I can keep working like this. I'm losing what little of myself I have left, and then there's you," she added the last with a shy smile.

"Me?" Chuck asked.

"Yes you. I've been happier in the last few days with you than I have in years. I trust you more than I trust just about anyone and that's after you've just explained how much you've been lying to me. Isn't that just sad?"

"Yes, it is," replied Chuck. "But it's also not your fault. I'm vain enough to be pleased that you trust me, and it's great that you're happy around me. I'm sorry about lying to you, but you know why I did that right? I'm part of a pretty big secret, and as much as I like and trust you too, some things you just don't tell someone until they're cleared. You of all people should understand that."

"I do," Sarah replied. "And admittedly you did tell me as soon as you were cleared to. I also picked up you weren't really happy about the lying thing. Which brings up another question. How come you're lying to your sister? I can't imagine she's a security risk at least for the Marshal stuff. What's with the strange 'consultant' cover?"

"That's actually an outgrowth of how I got brought into the team. I wasn't kidding about getting brought in at 15, and so they came up with a cover for me that would work with that. My current cover with my sister and friends back in L.A. is an outgrowth of that original cover. That's a really long story that I will tell you, but it's not for right now. Are you ok with that?"

"Given that I now know more about you than your actual sister, yeah, I can wait for the full explanation," Sarah said with a very small smile.

Chuck was incredibly relieved by her being able to smile, but he hadn't forgotten about what she'd been talking about earlier. "You're indicating some real problems at the CIA, and I think we need to bring Sherrie and Anna back in. Is that ok with you Sarah? I promise you and I will have more time to talk about… other stuff, but I'm a little worried about what you're telling me."

"Other stuff? I'm not sure I follow," said Sarah.

"Oh, we've got further to go than I thought. Well I'm always up for a challenge. Trust me, I think you'll find the 'other stuff' worth talking about. At least I hope so. Can I bring in the others?"

"Ok."

Chuck went out in the hallway and came back in with the two women. He spent a few minutes with a much abbreviated version of what Sarah had said about her trust issues with the agency and why she had them.

"Ok, this is worse than the National Security Advisor and I thought it was," Sherrie stated.

Chuck, Sarah, and Anna looked at her like she'd just grown a second head. "Worse, you mean you know about something more than just this intersect thing?" asked Anna.

"Yes," Sherrie started putting her elbows on the table lacing her fingers together and resting her chin on her hands for a few seconds. Picking her head back up she began, "The CIA and the NSA have some of the same problems, and the FBI and DEA are starting to look a little fishy. So far I've had no indications that either the military, or the rest of Justice have any problems, but the primary intelligence gathering agencies are all showing signs of having been compromised." Sherrie looked pensive for a moment. "I think this is going to change the game. I had hoped that the agencies could clean themselves up without any outside help and this fishing expedition with the Intersect was going to show that, but I find that was just wishful thinking. Chuck, I think we're going to have to go about dealing with the Intersect differently than I had planned."

"How so?" asked Anna.

"I think we're going to have to use it as bait to see who comes out of the woodwork, then stomp them flat." Sherrie answered. "This is going to be different than what we've done in the past, so we're going to need help. Sarah, how would you feel about working with us on this? I think we might be able to kill two birds with one stone here. You get a team to work with that you can trust, and we get a CIA agent that we know is both clean and competent."

Sarah thought about this for a minute, Sherrie had jumped in a bit fast, but on further reflection she felt it might be the last chance she had to maintain agent status and not lose any more of herself than she already had. 'Hell, maybe Chuck can help me get some more of myself back. I wonder how he does it. He's obviously had experience on the sharp end but he doesn't seem to have been as affected by it as I have. Maybe he can show me how he does that.' "I think I might like that," she finally answered. "But what would we be doing?"

"That sort of depends on whether or not I can sell the National Security Advisor on this idea," Sherrie explained. "If I can, we're going to set up a tidy little inter-agency task force around you, Chuck and Casey and use it to flush out the undesirables in the various intelligence and law enforcement agencies that we suspect of being compromised. Once we have them out in the open we'll stomp on them like the cockroaches they are. Does that sound like a mission you'd be willing to take on Sarah?"

"So let me see if I understand where you're coming from," said Sarah. "You want to use Chuck as bait to bring out anyone who is looking for the Intersect by continuing this charade that he has the database in his head and use the team around Chuck to capture or eliminate the threats as they come up?"

"Wait what do you mean use Chuck as bait?" exclaimed Chuck. "I do not have any experience being the rescuee, and I don't want any of that experience thank you very much! As good as we are, the standard adage, 'Sucks to be a hostage,' still applies. And out of curiosity and not to bring up bad memories, but you do remember my response to what happened in Azerbaijan right? I can't guarantee that isn't going to happen again if somebody comes for me. I wasn't exactly in control at that point, and I still have the nightmares." He looked over at Sarah, "It wasn't really my finest moment."

"Depends on your point of view," replied Sherrie as she gazed at the ceiling. "Actually I hadn't taken that into account. You bring up a good point. That response and civilians might not be a good combination. Anna, any thoughts?"

"I'll admit I'm not thrilled with him potentially starting a run in a populated area," she started. "Actually I'm scared to death of what might happen if somebody manages to capture or threaten a member of his team once this whole thing starts. I doubt there'd be civilian casualties he's too careful for that, but we'd definitely be out in the light at that point. The Dragon razing a city block is pretty obvious."

"On the other hand, if we are going to do this he's the only member of the team that has the full skill set we'd be looking for. It's either him or we don't do it at all." Anna finished.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we have to risk it," said Sherrie. "And Chuck, before you object again, Larkin sent that email to you, nobody knows that yet, but it doesn't mean that they won't figure it out at some point in the future. It's possible you're already a target."

Chuck had been about to strenuously object in fact but that brought him up short. He realized if he became a target then his family would become one too. "If we do this, you're signing up to provide 24/7 security for Ellie, Devon and Morgan," he said looking at Sherrie, "possibly for the rest of their lives."

Sherrie winced; she hadn't gotten that far, "Done."

"Your personal word on it Sherrie, this is too important for anything less."

"You have my word," she replied.

"And unless you or one of the team leaders is on the ground with us, I'm the person in the field, when I call for fire from God I get it, if we get left twisting in the wind you know what is going to happen."

Sherrie shuddered, "That is one of those things I will do my absolute best to avoid so yes I can agree to that."

"Ok," he said. "If Sarah and Casey agree, I'll do it. We're going to want somebody from the DEA and FBI in this too aren't we? If we want to cover all the bases."

"After we get started, we'll have to vet some agents there yes. But that's for the longer view." Sherrie replied.

"Well, it's late, and I still need to talk to the doc before bed, not that it's going to help tonight. " Chuck said getting up. "I'll get Sarah settled in a room near mine and then head over to psych," he held out his hand to help her up. "Unless you'd like to talk to a therapist as well Sarah? Being held and nearly tortured isn't a walk in the park."

Sarah took his hand and stood up. "I'm ok, isn't the first time won't be the last probably, unless I do get out of the field I guess." She said as they left the room, Sherrie and Anna staying behind starting to work out the logistics and strategies for the new mission.

Once they were alone she asked, "Why are you going to see a therapist Chuck?"

"I killed 11 people today, and ordered the deaths of several more. I learned some time ago that I can't just tough that out indefinitely. Well I probably could, but it didn't seem healthy so I asked to talk to a psychologist. I didn't want drugs, that is a very slippery slope, but I did need help handling what I had done. The doc helps me put things back in perspective. I still get nightmares some times, but they're not as often and I can usually control them now. It's helped."

"They've offered psychiatrists after some of my missions, even forced me to go a couple of times, but the general thought in the agent community is that they aren't really there to help you, they're there to decide if you're fit to go back into the field or not so we basically just tell them what we know they want to hear and get it done as quickly as possible," was Sarah's reply. "I've never actually had a psychiatrist that I trusted not to bench me if I showed any weakness so I didn't."

"Wow the atmosphere around the CIA must be really toxic if that's what they do. I was afraid of that at first, but I finally realized it didn't matter, if I didn't get some help with dealing with what we do, I'd either turn into a killing machine or end up dead. If they benched me maybe it would have been for the best. When I finally asked to see the doc and really went into what I was dealing with, he did bench me for 2 weeks. But he told me when he did that his goal was to get me back in the saddle as quickly as he could, and if I couldn't he and I would both know why before he made the call." Chuck had stopped at the elevator and turned to face Sarah. "We did 4 hour sessions every day for the whole 2 weeks and then did a 4 hour session once a week for another year before he pulled back and told me I only had to come see him when I felt I needed it. I usually come see him officially about once a month just as a status check, or after missions that as he put it once, 'leave a mark,' which don't happen very often. We talk more often than that, but it's more casual than an official session. It's helped a whole lot over the years, especially after some missions that went off the rails."

"Do you trust him?" Sarah asked.

"You have to if you are going to get anything out of it."

"How long do you think you'll be tonight?"

"Probably about an hour or so, the mission wasn't too bad, as missions go, there were just a few things that I really need to run past him. It's not going to get very deep." Chuck answered her.

"Do you think he would mind talking to me a little after you get done? Off the record so to speak?" Sarah asked.

"I can ask, but I will tell you right off, if he thinks something you tell him will put you or others in danger he has to tell at least Sherrie. Whether she decides to tell anyone else is up to her, but they're both scrupulously fair, and you seem level if maybe a bit troubled right now so I don't expect that. When he benched me I was right on the edge. Do you want me to ask?"

"Yeah, I think I would."

"Ok," with that he pushed the button for the elevator and they both stepped in.

* * *

_A/N2: Next time we finish our visit to Chuck's place of business, I'm hoping I didn't disappoint too many people with the complete lack of green polyester, and visit Casey in the hospital. There may or may not be time travel involved. (Well of a sort anyway.)_


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N Thanks once more to everyone who's read, followed, favorited and especially reviewed. The smile I still get from all that still suprises me._

_This one's mostly wrapping some stuff up from the rollercoaster that was the last few chapters. We do get back to Casey though for those of you to thought maybe I'd forgotten about him._

_Standard disclaimers apply, I don't own Chuck, and I'm making no money at this. If you're looking for canon, you may have made a wrong turn back there, but feel free to look around. If you're looking for cannon a visit to Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow, Russia would apparently not be amiss._

* * *

Chuck awoke to find a beautiful CIA agent using him as a teddy bear for the second time in three days. 'I could get used to this.' He looked over at the clock on his nightstand to find it was just after 8am. 'Crap we have to get going.'

He gently nudged Sarah awake being careful not to trigger any defense mechanisms if he could avoid it. Sarah's face scrunched up adorably, and she snuggled in tighter in an attempt to put off waking up. "Sarah, we have to get going. I know we didn't get much sleep last night, but you've got another quick appointment with the doc in less than an hour and then we've got to get back to L.A. to see how Casey's doing and forestall hurricane Ellie."

"Can't we just stay in bed all day instead?" she whined. "We didn't finish until three in the morning, and I want to sleeeeep!"

"Nope, you made me promise to get you to the doc's office on time, and that's just what I'm going to do." He nudged her again and then got out of bed taking the covers with him.

"Hey, no fair!" Sarah complained. She finally opened her eyes and looked at the clock. "Just so you know, I'm officially not a morning person, and I'm armed, so that was not a good move on your part."

"Doesn't matter you still have 30 minutes with the doc at 9am then it's time to get out of here. I'll be out of the shower in 10 minutes."

He paused for a minute in the doorway to the bathroom and then looked back at her. "Thanks for staying last night. It helped."

"You don't have to thank me Chuck," she replied with a smile, "I haven't slept as comfortably in years as I have the two nights we've shared a bed. One of these days we'll have to see about doing more than sleeping." With that she stretched on the bed and her smile turned into a definite smirk.

At this point Chuck's brain simply stopped processing and he stood there with a very confused look on his face. Sarah gave a little laugh, got up and walked over to him. She closed his mouth with her hand and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek that snapped him out of his reverie. "Now go take your shower so I can get ready for the day."

Chuck shook himself back to reality, "Yeah, I'll get right on that just as soon as my brain finishes rebooting. Good grief woman, you can't just say stuff like that, my nerd brain is incapable of processing a beautiful woman making passes at me!"

"Oh, we're beyond passes at this point, that was more in nature of a promise," was her response followed by a gentle shove when he froze up again.

* * *

By 10am Sarah had kept her appointment, and while she'd been told this was going to be a long process, she hadn't been benched, and she had worked out how to do three sessions a week when it didn't interfere with operations over a video link. One of the things Chuck had given her last night had been a laptop that would talk to the secure network they used. They had also stopped by the commissary for a quick breakfast and made their way to the hanger to collect their ride back to L.A.

As they approached the Dragon, Anna walked up to them. "The boss is busy getting this show on the road. Expect official assignment in the next week or so and operational orders in 2 to 3 to start work. We're going to have to work out everything including where to base you folks, so figure it takes at least the full 3 weeks to get ready. Expect to hit the ground running at the end of that time though."

"Anything else?" asked Chuck.

"Nope, but if you two aren't doing the nasty by then, I'm going to come over there and kick both your asses, so fair warning."

Chucks mouth dropped open for the third time this morning and Sarah turned bright pink. Anna on the other hand smiled like the cat that ate the canary and wandered away.

"While I completely agree with the sentiment, I don't suppose you'd think about letting me kill her would you Chuck?" Sarah asked.

"Consider it? Yes. Actually give you the go ahead probably not, we need her," was his reply. "I might consider letting you use your spy skills to do something childish to her like short sheet her bed or fill her hand with shaving cream and tickle her nose, but it might turn into an escalating war so it might be best to just ignore her."

"Just let me know, I feel that some sort of revenge is in order for that comment, but we can take our time figuring out what," she said with a frightening look of evil in her eyes. Anna was going to regret that parting shot.

Chuck looked at her and realized there was probably going to be polka in his future. 'Oh well, it'll probably be worth it.'

The two of them climbed into the cockpit and Chuck started pre-flight as the Dragon was moved to a pad in the center of the large hanger area.

"Should take just over an hour to get back, we don't need to push it so I'm planning on keeping us at around Mach 2 for the trip. We'll get there just about an hour before we left," Chuck laughed quietly. "I love time zone changes. They make speed runs, even relatively low speed runs, more fun somehow."

Sarah laughed at him, "You are a serious nerd you know that?"

"Guilty as charged, but what makes you say that this time?"

"You're flying a top secret aircraft in which Mach 2 isn't and I quote, pushing it, and the part you think is fun is that you land before you start due to two time zone changes?"

"Well since it's just a point to point transfer flight with no actually fun flying yeah," Chuck replied. "It kind of makes me feel like a Timelord."

"A what?" Sarah asked.

"A Timelord, you know Dr. Who? Tardis? Big blue police box? Bigger on the inside than the outside?" Sarah's blank look proved she had no idea what he was talking about, and seemed to indicate she thought he might be crazy. "Ok, definitely going to have to have a Dr. Who marathon, probably after the Monty Python and Star Wars marathons and before the Firefly marathon. It's going to take so long to get you so you understand what I'm talking about."

"Or you could just start using actual English when you speak," Sarah said. "You know without all the pop culture references?"

"But what would be the fun of that? Not sure where to go after the Firefly marathon though, I'd say Matrix, but I refuse to recognize anything after the first movie so it wouldn't really be a marathon…"

He finally finished his checklist and called in to operations. "Operations this is Dragon 1 requesting clearance on tube 9…"

* * *

"So is there something you'd like to talk about?" Chuck asked looking over at Sarah once he'd engaged the autopilot. "We've got about 45 minutes before I have to contact Edwards approach."

"I'm not sure, seems like I've talked more in the last few days than I have in years. Is there something you'd like to talk about?"

"I suppose there're a couple of things that I'd like to talk about but they'll probably turn into long serious discussions," Chuck began. "We'll hold those for another day and probably alcohol… lots of alcohol. But for right now, how about we talk about what we're going to tell Ellie, I think I'm going to need some help with that one. In fact I'm probably going to be relying on you and Casey a lot on how to do the cover stuff. I'm not bad with the sneaking and the fighting but I don't think pretending to be people I'm not is going to come very easily."

"Why do you think we'll be sneaking around and going undercover?" Sarah asked since none of that had come up.

"I know how Sherrie thinks," Chuck replied, "and if this were just pure direct action we wouldn't be asking for assistance from the CIA whether or not they owned part of the database. Hence there's a reason you're being asked to join the team. The obvious reason is we need your skills and contacts, which indicates to me undercover work. Same will hold true for the DEA agent whenever we get somebody. I'm less sure about why we need the NSA and FBI since they tend to be more overt, but that could just be playing nice knowing that the other members of the alphabet will hear about this sooner or later."

"Ok, laid out like that it seems obvious, but I maintain it wasn't," Sarah said.

"You just need to know the players."

"Ok, so what to tell Ellie…" Sarah began.

* * *

Three hours and change later they pulled into a parking space at the hospital where Casey was recovering.

"Well he ought to be awake by now," said Chuck. "I also imagine he's cranky. Of course that's not much of a guess given it seems to be his default setting." They entered the hospital and Chuck noticed the gift shop in the lobby. "Should we get him something from the gift shop?"

"Only if they sell belt fed weapons or at least copies of Guns & Ammo," Sarah replied dryly.

"I'm guessing no to both." They stopped at the information desk.

"May I help you?" asked the older woman behind the desk.

"Yes we're looking for John Casey's room," Chuck said.

"Just a second, here he is, room 415 elevators are just over there," she said pointing vaguely across the lobby. "Just follow the signs to the room number."

"Thank you ma'am," Chuck finished. He and Sarah walked toward the elevator bank.

A few minutes later they were standing outside the door to Casey's room. Chuck knocked on the open door and walked in. "Are you awake Casey?" Chuck asked as they entered.

"Of course I'm awake num-nuts, it's after 6am isn't it?" Casey answered. "Where have you been? Well at least something went right last night," he said noticing Sarah entering behind Chuck. "Glad to see you managed to escape Walker. I was thinking about what a bitch it was going to be to track down and kill everybody involved. I assume you dealt with Zarnow and whomever he was working with?"

"They're dealt with," Sarah replied behind her professional mask. She looked over at Chuck who gave her a small nod.

"He was cleared at least that far this morning," Chuck said out loud. "What did the doctors say about your leg Casey?"

Casey looked between Sarah and Chuck, sensing there had been a dynamic shift while he was out, but not knowing what it was. "I'm going to have about 3 weeks where I'm going to be stuck either in bed or in a chair with my leg up. Then they're going to let me start rehab. I'll probably be up for desk work when the rehab starts and not back to the field for 3 months or so. That's what they say; I fully intend to be back in 6 weeks. The doctors aren't used to dealing with Marines."

"Yeah, we'll see, I don't want you pushing it and not getting back to 100% because of it. I'm going to go talk to the boss, I'll be right back," Chuck said as he headed out of the door.

As soon as he left Casey turned to Sarah, "What's going on. I'm starting to feel like the fat kid that gets picked last. Something's changed and I want to know what it is."

"Things are different than we thought," Sarah began, "Chuck isn't exactly what I thought he was, apparently you've been cleared in so you'll find out soon enough, this room isn't exactly secure but Chuck indicated I could tell you at least this much, Zarnow was working with the North Koreans. They had a team of interrogators and commandos in a warehouse by the docks. Chuck rescued me and took them all out, then his team cleared the area, the rest can wait until we get to a more secure location for a full read in."

"Wait, Chuck took out a team of North Korean commandos by himself?" Casey asked a little bit of respect creeping into his voice.

"Yes, but let's try to keep that a bit quiet for now, there's a bunch of other stuff you need to know but you'll have to wait for that," Sarah answered

"What kind of other stuff?" Casey asked now wondering what else he was getting sucked into.

"We're going to be working together on a new mission," Chuck answered as he walked back in the door. "Good news Casey. One of our rehab specialists is coming out here to look you over and evaluate your case. My guess is you'll probably make your six week estimate, but you're not going to enjoy those six weeks. Lord knows none of us ever do. Best reason to avoid getting shot I've ever run across is what these guys do to you after the doctors say you're ready to rehab."

"You've been shot?" Sarah asked curious.

"Shot, stabbed, even blown up once, I don't recommend that by the way, the injuries weren't too bad, but I lost some high end hearing and my ears rang for about a week. Between that and the flash burns it just about drove me nuts. Would you like to compare scars?"

"Oh god, it's getting worse isn't it. Could you two just get a room? I'm pretty sure the Geneva Convention would classify this as torture," Casey complained from his bed.

"Not yet Casey, I assume we need to give him an unclassified briefing?"

"Actually, we don't," replied Chuck. "You're going to be in here for a few days Casey, we can brief you in when you get out. There's nothing you can do until then anyway. Is there anything we can bring you? You know short of weapons and ammunition that is."

"Something to read would be nice, they don't have the History channel on this set, and the only news is that commie CNN. If you could find me a Reagan biography that would be perfect."

"I'm pretty sure we can find something for you," Chuck said. "We'll get out of your hair, but I hope you feel better Casey, sorry you got shot."

"Goes with the job Bartowski, which apparently you know," growled Casey. "Now you two get out of here and let me have some peace and quiet. Thanks for stopping by."

As they left Chuck pulled out his phone and tapped out a text message. A minute later he got a reply. "Casey will have a Reagan biography, and a copy of every gun magazine at the bookstore when the rehab guy gets here. I just asked him to bring them with."

"That ought to make him happy," said Sara with a smile.

"Hopefully. Now on to the real problem for today, my sister." Chuck looked at his watch.

Sarah checked hers as well, "It's 11 am, maybe she'll already be at work and you're worrying over nothing."

"That is probably going to make it worse actually. She'll have another 8 hours or so to be working up a major Ellie interrogation. They really should contract her to train interrogators, but then again I'm not sure her skills are teachable."

"You make your sister sound like she should be working on terrorists in Guantanamo Bay."

"No I'm pretty sure she's banned by the Geneva Convention," Chuck finally smiled at this, Sarah had begun to become worried that his sister was really that scary. "Ok, it's not that bad, but the woman has crazy skills in figuring out what you're hiding. High School was a nightmare, I couldn't get away with anything."

"Well I'm a trained CIA agent, and you're no longer in High School, so I assume we can deal with her," Sarah assured him.

"Oh you have no idea what's coming," Chuck looked at her now with a sort of pity coupled to horror. "No idea at all."


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N: Fluff warning. I'm not kidding, There's enough fluff in here to choke a T-Rex. You have been warned. "It's So Fluffy!"_

_Standard disclaimers apply, I don't own Chuck, and I'm not making any money at this. If you're looking for canon, you're certainly welcome to stay, but you'll probably be disappointed. If you're looking for cannon I suggest the U.S.S. Iowa berthed at the Port of Los Angeles Berth 87. (Well that's where Wikipedia says it it anyway. She's one of the two required to be maintained ready for return to active duty should the need arise.)_

* * *

Chuck and Sarah returned to Ellie and Devon's apartment to find a note on the dining table to the effect that Ellie and Devon were at work after being called in for a multi-car pile-up and probably wouldn't be back until late evening. It ended with an admonition for the two of them to be there for dinner when they got home or there would be hell to pay.

"Well I guess we know what we'll be doing tonight," Chuck quipped after reading the note.

"I guess we do," replied Sarah. "But at a guess that's going to be about 6 hours off, so what should we do until then?"

"Well I had promised to cook dinner and then bailed on them the day we met. I probably should make good on that promise."

"Ok, I don't think I'll be much help there," Sarah said gazing down at her shoes. "I'm not a very good cook."

"Cooking's not something you had to pick up huh?" asked Chuck moving next to her and bumping her shoulder.

"No, most of the time if I had to make do cooking for myself, salads, condensed soups and TV dinners were what I lived on," answered Sarah. "Other than that it was restaurants and take out. When you aren't sure how long you're going to stay, there isn't any reason to keep a stocked refrigerator. They did teach us how to shop healthy so we could keep our readiness levels, but that's about it."

"Well that may be surviving but I'm not sure I'd call it living," Chuck mused. "I'm no great shakes in the kitchen myself, but it can be fun and relaxing to cook. Plus, once you know how to make something you like yourself, you don't ever have to rely on finding someplace to get it when you really want it. Downside is once you've got something you like down pretty well, it becomes disappointing when you order it in a restaurant and it's not up to your standards. Everything has its tradeoffs."

"Tell you what, what I'm going to make tonight is actually a pretty good starter dish. Nothing all that complicated. How would you like to help me make it?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea Chuck. I can make a salad if you want, and I'm not that bad at breakfast so we can do that sometime, but I don't want to ruin dinner for your sister," was Sarah's answer.

"I promise, you won't ruin anything. It's easy enough to make, and honestly Ellie doesn't think I do it very well anyway, so you won't be able to disappoint her" Chuck smiled to give her confidence a bit of a boost.

"Ok, I'll hold you to that, I still think it's a bad idea though." Sarah finally relented.

"Great, let's head out to the store and get what we're going to need."

* * *

An hour later the two of them had been to the store, and completed the prep work. Everything was in the refrigerator waiting to either hit the pan or the table.

"See it wasn't that bad was it?" asked Chuck.

"I'll let you know once the actual cooking part is done. This was just prep, none of the really dangerous stuff from a potential disaster perspective has happened yet," Sarah said with some trepidation.

"Trust me, the rest isn't all that hard. You worry too much."

"I'll withhold judgment until we actually eat it and let you know."

Sarah glanced over at Chuck with a speculative look. "What time were you thinking your sister is going to get home?"

"The note implied later evening, so I'm thinking 6 at the earliest, why?"

"Perfect," Sara replied ignoring his question and getting a slightly predatory glint in her eye. "That gives us plenty of time."

"Time for what?" Chuck started to ask, when he noticed Sarah was playing with the top button on her blouse and froze in place staring.

"You'll figure it out," she replied walking over and kissing him hungrily causing a groan to come from each of them. She turned them around and started pulling him toward the guest bedroom without breaking the kiss. Her hands started pulling at his jeans and he started pulling at her shirt. After a couple of crashes into the walls of the hallway they finally made it into the bedroom, clothing strewn behind them.

* * *

Sometime later, Chuck lay on his side softly stroking the back of a gloriously naked Sarah Walker as he held her in is arms with a somewhat goofier than normal grin on his face. He'd have felt awkward about it, but Sarah had a similarly goofy grin on _her_ face.

"Well you made good on your promise from this morning," Chuck said with a slight chuckle.

"That I did, although if I'd have known how good it was going to be, I'm pretty sure we'd have done this about 5 minutes after I met you," she smirked.

"Right in the middle of the BuyMore? I'm not sure I'm up for a public display quite like that."

"Good point, I don't need the competition for your affections that would have created," replied Sarah. "So definitely no public sex unless we can come up with a way to keep me quiet when you're working me over."

"You were a bit vocal, I'd never have expected that," Chuck said with chuckle. "I'm thinking it's a good thing we had the apartment to ourselves. Kind of glad we didn't have the neighbors calling the cops thinking I was murdering you in here."

"Oh, God," Sarah hid her head in his chest. "Yeah, I think we're going to have to soundproof our apartment once we find one."

"Our apartment?" asked a very surprised Chuck. "Aren't we taking this a bit fast?"

"Yes, our apartment," replied Sarah firmly with a possessive glint in her eyes. "And yes we're taking this a bit fast, but our cover was already going to necessitate us living together. My thought was to have your sister worry enough about her brother moving too fast with the new girlfriend that she won't be paying so much attention to the other stuff we're going to have to keep from her. However, after the last few days and yeah this afternoon, I'm thinking screw the cover, I want to actually try this out, so you better learn to live with it buster."

After thinking of possible responses, Chuck decided discretion was the better part of valor. "Cool," he replied as he kissed her and rolled her onto her back.

* * *

Chuck and Sarah woke to the sound of an alarm going off. "Why is your alarm set for 4 in the afternoon?" Sarah groaned into Chuck's chest. They had nodded off again in what was becoming something of a normal position for them. Him on his back, her draped over his left side with her head on his left shoulder. They both seemed to just sleep better that way.

"Well, since I figured we didn't want my sister finding us like this when she got home, and we were planning on getting up and finishing dinner for the four of us. I set it after round 3 so I knew we'd get up." Chuck replied.

"Hnuh, not a bad idea considering. Normally I'd be the one thinking about that kind of stuff. I think you're breaking me," Sarah said with a pout.

"I'm definitely taking that as a compliment, or maybe a testimonial," joked Chuck laughing quietly. "I think I should have signs made up."

"You don't need any testimonials or signs," Sarah growled with a determined look in her eye poking him in the chest with a very pointy finger. "You are officially off the market until such time as I'm done with you. I'm in not planning to give up my rights any time soon."

"I'm really turned on and a bit intimidated right now." Chuck said with a bit of wonder in his eyes.

"Good I was going for intimidating. Turned on is a bonus, but I'll have to collect later, we have showers to take and dinner to cook before your sister gets home. Actually I think I'll collect in the shower." With that she rolled out of bed and strolled to the bathroom exaggerating the sway of her hips as she went. "Coming Chuck?"

Chuck broke himself out of the stupor that naked Sarah walking past him has created. "Sounds good to me," he replied getting up and following her in and closing the door behind them.

* * *

True to his word Chuck had Sarah do most of the cooking, just directing gently, letting her get comfortable with the idea. Truthfully other than giving her the recipe and some encouragement he hadn't had to do much, well there was the moment of panic when she'd managed to set the oil in the pan on fire but it was quickly smothered with a lid and no harm was done really. They heard the door open followed by the noise of the two doctors coming in and putting their stuff down near the door.

"What smells so good?" called Ellie as she came toward the kitchen.

"Just dinner El," replied Chuck giving his sister a hug and Devon a high five as he followed in behind her. "Sarah is cooking chicken with Balsamic glaze as part of her effort to increase her culinary knowledge."

Ellie's face took on a strange look, "Wait _you're _teaching her to cook?"

"You don't need to sound so surprised. I have been cooking for myself for some time now, and while I'm not in your league, I am perfectly capable of passing on some basic recipes and tips."

Ellie did a double take looking around her kitchen, taking in for the first time that it was mostly clean still and the smell coming off the stove really was appetizing. She turned to Sarah, "So you're just humoring him right? You already knew how to cook right?"

"Nope," Sarah said. "I've never really had time to cook much. I can do an omelet and strangely I can do a pretty good chocolate soufflé that I learned from watching a cooking show on TV, but that's about it. I'm usually a danger in the kitchen. Chuck has been leading me through cooking dinner."

"Ok, I'll take your word for it and it certainly smells good. Maybe you've picked some stuff up since you left baby brother."

"Didn't have much choice El, I didn't have you around to cook for me. I had to pick up some of it on my own," Chuck stated.

"Do you think it's done?" Sarah asked from the stove where she'd been watching the chicken.

After deciding it was in fact done and showing Sarah how he came to the conclusion, they plated the chicken and the salad and moved everything into the dining area. Much to Sarah's enjoyment, they all declared that her cooking was excellent and she definitely showed promise.

* * *

After dinner and cleaning up, they found themselves sitting on the couch snuggled up together watching a movie with Ellie and Devon. Chuck was enjoying the quiet night with his new girlfriend, his sister and her boyfriend. While he knew what he did was important, he really did miss being able to do this.

Sarah for her part was shocked to find how comfortable this was. She'd never really experienced something like this that some would call incredibly mundane. What she found was something she'd been yearning for but hadn't even known she was, because she had nothing to work with as a reference.

Although each had different reasons, they both decided that this was something that they were going to enjoy for as long as they could and come back to it as often as possible. They subconsciously pulled each other closer. Ellie noticed this, and smiled just watching her baby brother and his new girlfriend.

Which is of course when she decided to begin the interrogation. "So where were you two last night?" she asked.

"We stayed in my hotel room," answered Sarah using the cover she and Chuck had worked out during the flight back. "It was really late, and we didn't want to wake you up coming in."

Ellie now turned on her brother, "Ok, I'll take that at face value for the moment, but why didn't you return any of my phone calls?"

"Well El, after sleeping in this morning I thought it would be better just to come over and talk to you face to face, but by the time we got here you'd already been called in and I didn't want to bother you at work. Since you'd left your decree that we be here for dinner I thought I'd make good on my promise to make you dinner, so I figured why call when I can just surprise you?"

"You should have called, I was worried about you," Ellie grumped.

"Sorry El, I didn't think about that. I've been living on my own for a while now, and it didn't occur to me to check in." Chuck responded looking at least superficially apologetic.

Sarah was impressed with how well Chuck had managed to improvise through this interrogation so far. Apparently he was worried over nothing.

"Ok, I'll accept your apology, but I'm not sure I'm buying your answer about last night. Something fishy is going on and I'm going to figure out what. Did you know there was a strange black SUV parked across the street the day after you got here? Almost like they were watching you. Then it just vanished the morning after your date with Sarah. Then you go missing on another date with Sarah and come back the next day with a really lame excuse."

'Or maybe he wasn't exaggerating,' Sarah mused. She decided to try distraction. "I'm pretty sure you don't want to know why we weren't really interested in calling you back last night," she said with a forced blush and a downward look. "He is your brother after all."

Chuck's jaw dropped and Ellie looking at the two of them unimpressed. "If you're talking about the sex, I'd already assumed that, but thanks for not going into details. Like I said I think you two are not telling me something and sooner or later I will ferret out what it is. Chuck, you should know by now that I will figure it out."

"There's really nothing to figure out Ellie," Chuck said trying a different tactic. "It's not like there's some great conspiracy to hide things from you that we're involved in. We're just having a good time together right now and trying to see where this goes."

"Not to put too fine a point on it little brother but where do you see this going? You had told me that you weren't interested in having a girlfriend over a thousand miles away from where you lived. If Sarah just moved here, how is that going to work?"

Unsurprisingly Sarah was quick on her feet with the save. "Honestly, I just picked L.A. at random. I needed a new start after some personal and work related issues back in D. C. I figured L.A. was as far from there as I could get, but I didn't really have a plan for once I got here. I've got some money saved up, and they were downsizing the office so I took the buyout that gave me 6 month's severance as well. I'm just staying in a hotel here, all my stuff's in storage back in D.C. waiting for me to find a place to live. I didn't really intend to come out here and find a guy to follow someplace else, but if by the time Chuck's vacation is done things are going well I'm not opposed to it," she said with a smile at Chuck.

"You'd really consider following him back to St. Louis having only known him for four days?" Ellie asked obviously floored by the concept.

"Sure I'd consider it," Sarah answered. "Your brother is the nicest person I've ever met, present company excluded of course. I'm not signing up to marry him next week or becoming some creepy stalker, but not having any roots here anyway? What's the harm? I was running from something, not to anything. The end point of the journey can be as vague as I want it to be."

"That was pretty deep Sarah," said Devon. "Chuck you need to hold on to this one."

"So I've been told by more than one person" responded Chuck.

"Well make sure you take the advice to heart," said Ellie.

"That's the plan, besides, if I don't I'm pretty sure she can kick my ass."

"Better believe it mister," Sarah said with a playful punch to his shoulder.

As the movie recaptured their attention Chuck pulled Sarah in a little closer and whispered in her ear, "Excellent job redirecting the scary sister Agent Walker. What would you like as a reward?"

Chucks warm breath and provocative words caused her breath to hitch and she figured turnabout was fair play. She turned to whisper back in his ear, "I believe, I'm going to have to debrief you on the finer points of maintaining an undercover operation. In fact I'm thinking of debriefing you under the covers just as soon as we can safely retreat to the guest room. Then you can return the favor and debrief me as well."

Chuck's brain froze at the first feel of her warm breath, and by the time she finished he was a lost cause. Only his sister sitting on the chair next to them prevented him from simply carrying her off. He leaned back over to her, "Too bad we didn't get some soundproofing put in."

Now it was her turn to have her brain freeze. This was going to be a very good night.


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N: Thanks again to everyone who's read, followed, favorited and especially reviewed. You guys make this more fun than just the writing._

_Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I was having trouble deciding if I should even post it. I'm trying something a little different in this chapter and the next one, and I'm not entirely certain if it works or not, but I wanted to feed some of the back story in and this is what I came up with. Let me know if you think it's a good idea or not. I hope you'll think in the end it's worth it._

_Warning not as much fluff as last time but still kind of fluffy at the beginning. Probably would only choke a buffalo._

_Standard disclaimers apply: I don't own Chuck, and I'm not making any money at this, just having some fun playing with somebody else's toys. If you're looking for canon feel free to poke around but you're probably going to be disappointed. And like an earlier chapter I'm going to save the line for those looking for cannon till the end._

_Meanwhile back at the ranch... (And how many people still recognize that reference?)_

* * *

Chuck woke up the morning after he and Sarah had made dinner for Ellie and Devon in a place he didn't really recognize. The decor was very green, and the room was definitely not what he had in his room at his sisters. Movement to his left caused him to look over and that's when his memory of the previous night kicked in. He was at Sarah's hotel room in Sarah's bed, which they had put to extremely good use the previous night. Which also explained why he was a bit sore. 'Well worth it,' he thought with a huge smile.

"What's the smile for?" the aforementioned blonde goddess asked.

"Oh I think you already know," he answered. "And a very good morning to you beautiful." He rolled so he could bring her into his arms and kissed her forehead, and then her lips lightly when she tilted her head up toward him.

"Good morning," she returned. "So what should we do today? I thought about just staying in bed and taking advantage of you all day, but I'm already sore in all the right places from last night, so I'm not quite up for that again yet."

"Unfortunately I have to agree on the soreness. I'm afraid you're trying to kill me with sex Agent Walker, but what a way to go," he said with a smile.

"You are not allowed to die on me mister," Sarah said in a mock threatening tone. "I've got plans for you." She rolled over and tried to sit up to poke him in the chest and let out a groan, "Maybe just not quite yet." As she fell back to the bed. "I think you might have broken me."

"I broke you?" Chuck laughed, and then groaned as his abs tried to work.

"We broke each other?" She replied with a smile.

"Ok, I'll give you that one. But since we're both not ready to move yet, is the new plan to just go back to sleep?"

"I'm actually not that tired," Sarah responded. "Are you?"

"Not really, it's nice just laying here though."

"Ok, I told you something about my trust issues with Bryce before. I'd kind of like to avoid that if we could. How would you feel about a story exchange?" Sarah asked.

"Story exchange? What are you proposing?" Chuck inquired.

"We tell each other something true about our lives, no covers, and no lies. If it's classified you can use that as an out, but no pretending it's classified if it's just something you don't want to talk about."

"Ok, how do we pick the topic?" Chuck asked.

"Well, maybe we can trade, off?" Sarah asked.

"Ok, that's fair. Who goes first?"

"Well I came up with it, so I'll let you go first."

"Ok, well, every good superhero comic starts with an origin story. How did you become the super-agent you are today?"

"Well, you already know some of it right?"

"Not that much, just the basics, your dad was arrested for something at the bequest of Langston Graham, and you were directly recruited by him the same day. That's all I know right now." Chuck said.

"That really is most of it, but I can fill in some details I suppose…"

* * *

Seventeen year old Jenny Burton was driving home in her yellow VW rabbit convertible. She sang with the radio as she danced in her seat and drummed on the steering wheel. She had purchased the car herself using money she had earned working at various jobs over the last few years. She needed something that wasn't purchased using the proceeds of her father's enterprises, and the car gave her both a sense of freedom and a sense of worth outside helping her dad collect "donations" as he called them. Ever since she'd turned 13 she had become less and less enamored of the life her father led, and she wondered if she could get a college scholarship so she could maybe move away and leave this life behind. That had been on her mind more and more as she got closer to graduation. She found she was a finalist for several scholarships and she was really hoping one of them could change her life. She expected to hear from them soon, and was excited to get home and check the mail to see if any of them had come through.

Those pleasant thoughts left her head immediately when she turned onto her street and found her house with a half dozen cop cars sitting in front with their lights on. She was in shock, but her father had drilled her endlessly on what to do if something like this happened and that training kicked in now. She drove right by her house, looking at the scene just like any other looky loo at a crime scene. That was how she saw her father being led to one of the waiting cars in handcuffs. All her hopes and dreams came crashing down around her as she realized one of her greatest fears was playing out in front of her. She continued on willing herself not to cry and not to panic as she made her way to the hidden cache she and her father set up with their go kit.

As she got to the parking lot in the state park where the cache was hidden, she scanned for any cars that seemed out of place and any sign of police presence. Not seeing any she parked her car and started walking down one of the least used of the hiking trails. At the 1 mile marker she left the trail and started into the woods following her memory of the day they had hidden the escape kit. 'Escape kit, it's just some money to get out of town with,' she thought to herself as she closed on the hiding place. Checking carefully to see if anything looked disturbed, she slowly approached the place where they had hidden the box of money. Not seeing anything that set off her alarms, she quickly dug up the box, and using her knife cut the seal and checked inside, 'All here,' she thought with relief, just as she heard a twig snap and a figure move just out of her line of sight. She quickly turned and threw her knife putting it into a tree not six inches from the large figure that had suddenly appeared. A second knife appeared as if by magic in her hand.

"Don't come any closer, next time I won't miss," she warned the person.

The man was wearing a suit and his face didn't show any indication of worry that she could at any moment impale the knife she now held into his body. "Very good, your father has taught you well, the CIA can do even better," he said with a confident and almost paternal air.

"What are you doing here?" she asked not lowering her knife and slowly moving to a better position to escape from if he should make a move toward her.

"Your father tried to con the wrong people and got in over his head. I had him arrested to keep him safe. I can help you too if you want me to."

"Who are you and why would you want to help me?" she asked, inching away hopefully without him noticing how she was changing her position.

"My name's Langston Graham, I'm an Assistant Deputy Director for Operations at the CIA. As to why, did you know that a good deal of what a field agent does isn't all that different than what your father taught you to do? The biggest difference is we use those skills to help the people of this nation and keep them safe. You've shown great promise, we'd like to tap into that and make you even better."

"What's in it for me?" Jenny asked. Her father had always told her to make sure that anything she entered into had a payoff. Something she needed or wanted to make it worth her while.

"Well for starters would you like to go to college?" he asked with a fatherly smile.

"Well yeah, who doesn't? But it's not like I could afford it. I was hoping to get a scholarship, but I'm thinking nobody's going to give one to a convict's daughter, so that dream is out the window now thanks so much," Jenny said sullenly.

"We can take care of that. An agent needs to be not only educated, but wherever possible should be able to impress with that education. We've got agreements with several institutions of higher learning in this country. How do you feel about Harvard business school?"

"You're joking right?" Jenny asked in disbelief lowering her knife and ceasing her movement.

"No I'm not. If you agree to join us and become an agent, we'll send you to Harvard, give you spending money, housing, tutoring if you need it. All you have to do is give us 6 years after graduation and your summers and breaks for training. What do you say?"

"So let me get this straight, you'll send me to Harvard, get me anything I need while in school. I spend breaks and summers training to be an agent, once I graduate I spend 6 years as an agent and then I'm my own person?"

"That's the deal, obviously if you're as good at the job as I think you'll be, we will try and convince you to stay on, but after 6 years you make your own decision, the degree is yours, and we tie it to whatever permanent identity you want, even a completely clean one which we will make completely legal."

"I have a couple of months until I graduate high school, how does that work?" she asked.

"We'll arrange for the rent on your house to be paid through the end of the lease, and give you money for food and whatever else you need, then this summer after graduation you start your first round of training at the Farm."

Jenny stood there silent as her mind whirled around the possibilities.

"Do you have an answer for me?" the man asked.

"I'll do it," Jenny blurted out.

"Good, let's get you started," the man said as he turned and started to walk back the way Jenny had come. Jenny ran over, grabbed her knife from the tree and ran after him down the path.

* * *

"That's pretty much it," Sarah told Chuck as she finished her story. "I spent the next 4 years working my butt off getting through Harvard, and worse the Farm. By the end of my sophomore year I'd been through the basic agent's training. The summer of my sophomore year, I spent in advanced hand to hand and weapons training and going to flight school. My junior year I spent in advanced mission planning and logistics and that summer was a lot of practical training and examinations. My senior year I went through advanced training for asset handling and protection details. They actually had me join a secret service protection detail for about six months after graduation to cross train in their methods. After that I went back to the CIA and I've worked as an agent ever since."

"Ok. Wow, that was a hell of a story Sarah. Somehow I just don't see you as a Jenny though," was his response.

"Wait, I tell you all that and your response is you don't see me as a Jenny? Really?"

"Well no, but starting with Langston Graham is one special kind of bastard, seemed like the wrong opening ploy," Chuck answered.

"What do you mean? He gave me an opportunity to go to Harvard and the deal was pretty close to what the ROTC students make."

"Yeah, but ROTC doesn't start by putting your parents in jail and then preying on the children while they're still in shock. The deal doesn't sound bad, unless you have some additional knowledge, which I unfortunately do."

"What do you mean Chuck?"

"That program that put you through college exists officially, but not openly. Graham has a history of picking up what we call for lack of a better term orphans. Basically teens without stable homes sometimes with no homes and bringing them into the CIA using some of his operations budget to pay their way through school and giving them an 'accelerated' training program. What this gives him is a group of agents that are personally loyal to him more than the agency. He calls them his 'Wildcards' and they generally do whatever he orders them to do and believe whatever he tells them. They don't generally have long life expectancies. We know of 7 agents he's brought up this way, you're the only one to survive past the first 2 years. We've pulled 6 out at one time or another, including you in Venezuela, 4 more than once. Of the ones we've pulled out, 2 were permanently disabled and pensioned off, the rest kept going back to work for Graham and ended up dead sooner or later. Except for you, you continued to survive, it's probably why you're his favorite."

"Anyway, the survival rate is the worst of any agency. The DEA as an agency is the worst overall, but that's out of hundreds of covert agents. The CIA comes next not really even close to the total numbers of rescues we've had to attempt, but if you look only at the subset of Graham's 'Wildcards' it's just horrible, we can't prove anything beyond his 'scholarships', and there's nothing wrong with what he's doing. He even has it listed as a black trial training program to see the effectiveness of starting agent training earlier. The project has something like a 20 year duration and he's been doing it for more than a decade, long before he was a deputy director."

"You can't be right Chuck, Director Graham has been good to me. I can't believe he'd do something like that."

"I'm sorry Sarah, I really am, but it's the truth," he told her pulling back a bit so he could look her in the eyes. "Ask yourself this question, and answer it honestly: Looking back on it, short of our intervention, was the job in Venezuela survivable? And if in retrospect it wasn't, was there anything about your instructions that might lead you to believe objectively that Graham didn't expect you to survive?"

Sarah was obviously thinking for a moment, and then she answered talking slowly as if walking herself through it again, "Graham had set up a one-time transmission station in the center of town, we had just transmitted and left it when our mark caught up with us. Looking back at it, there was no way out of that town with the data after we made our snatch without outside help and we were told there was none to be had. Once we'd taken possession of the briefcase the whole town locked down, there was nothing about those measures in the brief, but looking back at it, any halfway competent analyst would have seen it as the trap it was. Hell, if we'd have been allowed to do a normal mission prep we'd have seen the trap for what it was, but we were basically thrown in cold at the last minute given a very basic brief and the mission to snag the data." She stopped for a minute and then her face changed to a look of disbelief. "Son of a bitch," she nearly whispered, "That's why the transmission equipment. He knew we weren't going to make it out, and he was making sure that we could get the data out before we were captured."

Chuck pulled her in tighter as what she said sank in. The anger started slow but built to a raging inferno as he realized what Graham had done to this wonderful woman in his arms. There was going to be a reckoning and he was going to be there when it happened. But he didn't have time for that now.

Sarah, sensed the anger rolling off Chuck and tried to explain, "Chuck, it's not like this wasn't part of the job I signed up for. For some reason learning that I was actually sent to be killed is different than knowing it could happen, but I can't say it's a risk we don't know about going in."

Chuck stiffened for a moment as the anger started to run away with him again. He shut it down hard, and squeezed her gently. "You're wrong," he began. "It's not part of the job. We don't believe in suicide missions and no win scenarios. I can think of half a dozen options right now that could have gotten you out of there and the CIA has access to all of them."

Sarah was quiet for a few minutes, and then she spoke again, "What do you mean?"

"Let's start with an easy one. Your mark had no access to air support or any serious anti air weapons. You had a good 10 minute lead on him before he even knew you'd taken the briefcase. Any competent spec ops helo driver could have pulled you out of the main square of that town before any significant countermeasures could have been put in place."

"The town sat on a river, and the navy has access to some really kick ass jet propelled boats designed for brown water interdiction and extraction, that could easily have gotten you out."

"Preplacing some rebreathers and masks at the river would have allowed you to slip invisibly away from the town to an extraction point where either a boat or a helicopter could have pulled you out."

"Pre-staging a zodiac at the river would have allowed you to get away temporarily, and there was a point about a mile upstream wide enough to get a Chinook in. You could have driven the zodiac straight on board the helo and been gone."

"Next is my least favorite option, but valid none the less, stage a company of spec ops troopers and put them in to cover your extraction in a standard withdrawal under fire. You have no idea how much I hate even mentioning that one, but it's an option."

"And finally Graham could have simply asked for our assistance and we'd have spent longer than 30 minutes and come up with something significantly sneakier than using the Dragon to pound the reinforcements into the mud while an extraction team ran overwatch on your escape. That's my admittedly biased best choice, but they were all options," Chuck finished. He could feel her stiffening in his arms, and he slowly released her, only to be surprised when she tightened her own grip.

"Sarah, are you ok?"

She actually wasn't ok, the fact that Chuck listed off 6 options for extraction, without batting an eyelid, that would have made the mission in Venezuela both safer and more likely to succeed had triggered a deep seated anger in her. It finally hit her that she had been betrayed by the one person she had actually still trusted in the CIA and she was furious. She needed some time to deal with this before she could answer him.

When she didn't immediately answer he tried to pull back to look at her but she kept her hold on him not letting him get the space he needed to look down. "Sarah?" he tried again.

"Hold on a minute Chuck," she actually growled into his chest. "I need to calm down a minute here before I can talk coherently."

He gave her the time wondering what she would say when she finally answered, when it came it wasn't what he was expecting.

"Thank you Chuck," Sarah barely whispered into his chest.

"What for?" he asked now completely confused.

"For being there for me, then and now."

"Sarah, you never need to thank me for that. Back then it was my job, I'll probably always think of that mission a little differently now that I know you, but that's what we do. And I'll be here for you as long as you'll have me. That's specifically not a job, but a privilege." He pulled back and this time she let him. He smiled down at her, "How are you doing?" he asked.

"Well, all things considered pretty poorly. I just learned that my mentor, the one man I trusted in all the CIA sent me off to die and worse than that, he didn't even try to set it up so I could survive. It's going to take me some time before I'm ok again," she said.

"Take as much time as you need, I'm not going anywhere," Chuck told her. "Unless you need me to, and then I will."

"Thank you, but if you try to leave right now, I'm going to do some serious damage to a part of your anatomy that I really enjoy, so do not even think about leaving," she said now pulling him in tighter again. "Now I really wasn't expecting to have an emotional breakdown telling you my story Chuck, you now owe me, so I want to hear how you got involved in all this."

"And for the record. Jenny wasn't my real name, it was just one in a series of identities I had growing up. I'm not ready to tell you my real name yet. I'm sorry about that, I want to, but that's one piece nobody else in the world knows, well except Graham, and he gave me the Sarah Walker cover that day he recruited me."

"Don't worry about it Sarah, you'll tell me when you're ready. But thank you for wanting to even if you're not ready."

"Thank you Chuck, now like I said, your turn."

"Well, you probably won't believe this but I started out even earlier than you, but my story isn't anywhere near as dark, although honestly it wasn't that different in theme than yours was," he began, going back in his mind to that day 12 years ago when his world changed.

* * *

_A/N2: Ok for those of you looking for cannon, take a quick internet search on Special Operations Craft – Riverine (SOC-R). That's the cool jet boat Chuck is talking about. If you've seen 'Act of Valor' it was used in that movie. Also if you want to see a video of a zodiac loading directly into a Chinook do a search on youtube for Chinookwater Helicopter picks up Navy (spelling on that is not my fault.)_


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N: Thanks once more to everyone who's read, followed, favorited and reviewed. It always brings a smile to see that little notice in my email. Sorry it's been awhile, probably should warn you posting will slow down a bit, two reasons. One, it's summer and I'm not trapped inside all the time. Two I've foolishly decided to mess with my current outline a bit because I had some stuff crammed too close together. We'll have another setup chapter after this, and then my revised plan is to go to Tango. After that I should be able to get back to the parts of the storyline I've got in place already. We'll see how that goes. Anyway on with Chuck's story. _

_Standard disclaimers apply, I don't own Chuck and I'm making no money at this. Just having some fun in somebody else's sandbox. If you're looking for canon you're always welcome to stay, but you're definately barking up the wrong tree. If you're looking for cannon, well it was Independance Day here in the U.S. this past week, and we all got to see some pretty explosions, so I'll hold off on that this time around._

* * *

Chuck Bartowski sat in front of his laptop hidden behind the dumpster at the local library, two hours into his hack of the U.S. Marshal's Service Witness Protection database. He'd been working on setting this up for a couple of months now, researching the firewalls in place, access routes and the hardware and software he'd be facing during this attempt. He'd lost track of how many contract companies he'd had to hack to get the information he had assembled to get where he was right now. Now it was just a small matter of taking his time and using everything he had learned to gain access to the database that he hoped would tell him what happened to his father. He'd tried every kind of search he could think of. Ellie even went so far as to hire a PI because being two teenagers with no guardian, they couldn't exactly go to the police about it, but they just couldn't find anything. It's like he'd been erased. Which brought to mind the really bad movie Arnold did, which led him to the Marshals Service Witness Protection Database. So here he was.

Unfortunately there was absolutely no information in here about his father either. All that time wasted. He started cursing under his breath, willing himself not to cry as this last shot at finding his father failed like all the others. He began slowly and methodically closing the connections and erasing all trace of ever being in the system. He figured it would take him all of 20 minutes to back out invisibly.

He was about 5 minutes from being done, still having complete control of the system when he noticed another hacker trying to come through the firewalls. Whoever it was wasn't very subtle or stealthy. Not amateur just arrogant in style. It seemed to be effective though. The other hacker was blasting through a whole lot faster than Chuck did, but he was leaving a trail wide enough to drive a truck down. Chuck spent a few minutes looking over the trace and realized the reason he didn't care was he was using a bot network and tracing him was going to be difficult if not impossible. It also smacked of being a hired gun which meant they were probably going to try to compromise the WitSec database for profit. That was not a good thing.

Chuck weighed his options for a few seconds and then did the only thing he could think of that would work in time. Praying that he'd wiped enough out to prevent them from even seeing that he was in there, he grabbed as much evidence of the other hack as he could, stored it away in the log directory that should be the first thing they looked at, tripped the host intrusion detection system. And shut down the database and the hosts it ran on. He cleaned up his footprints on the firewalls and then backed completely out leaving the other hacker with nothing to hack.

* * *

Two weeks later he was sitting in an interrogation room at the L.A. offices of the U.S. Marshals Service. He supposed it had been wishful thinking that they wouldn't find him. He probably should have let the other hacker complete his work, but that would have been wrong and people could have been hurt or killed. Still he was pretty scared right now.

Two men entered the room and sat down on the other side of the table. "Care to confess?" the larger, scarier one asked.

"Um, confess to what exactly? And if you're looking to get me to confess I'm now asking for a lawyer," Chuck responded.

"Confess to hacking into the Witness Security Database punk. It's taken us a lot of work to track you down. But we have you dead to rights," this came from the smaller nerdier of the pair. Who also seemed to be the angrier of the two.

"I think I'm definitely going to want that lawyer now, and I'll be exercising my right to remain silent," Chuck was now freaking out, but he was smart enough to know you don't say anything without a lawyer first telling you to in a case like this. 'I wonder how long I'm going to be in prison. Ellie is going to kill me.'

The two got up, the larger one pretty much dragging the smaller one out with him. The smaller one looked like he was about to start foaming at the mouth. With the door open the larger one turned back for a parting shot, "Look, we know it was you that shut down the system, we don't know why but it cost the government manpower and money to bring it back up. You're definitely going to be doing some prison time for this, how much is going to depend on how much cooperation you give, right now it's not looking good for you."

"What the hell do you mean you don't know why it was shut down? Didn't you look at the logs?" shouted an irate Chuck, who then realized what he'd done and slapped his hand over his mouth. His outburst had brought a smile to the face of the larger Marshal, but had also caused a head in the hallway to snap around to him at his words. With that the door closed.

* * *

Two hours later, the door opened again. It had been a long wait, but they had come in and offered him some water, and let him use the bathroom in the meantime, so he supposed he couldn't complain. What he didn't understand was why they hadn't led him away for processing after that stupid outburst. He was still kicking himself for that. This time two additional people were with the original two. One had a different look about him and Chuck could tell that the original two were not very happy he was there. The other looked a great deal like a young very confused attorney. Probably his public defender

"Before we begin, my name is Deputy Marshal Michael Stone," Started the new Marshal, "and for the record, what goes on in this room while I'm in here is not to be used during any criminal proceedings for which you are or might be under investigation, and nothing you say at this time will be used against you in court. I'm going to give you a recording of this session when we are done, I recommend you give it to a law firm for safe keeping, if you don't want to do that a safety deposit box is probably a good idea. This man here is Mr. Lane, your public defender, since he isn't going to be privy to this conversation for security reasons he has agreed to sit in the observation room with the sound turned off to ensure no physical coercion is going on, and if at any time you feel a need to talk to him simply raise both your arms and he will be brought in to confer. Do you understand son?" he asked.

Chuck looked up at the attorney, who nodded at him and showed him his id. After taking a deep breath Chuck responded, "I understand what you said, but I have no idea what it means."

Deputy Stone chuckled a bit and even turned to Mr. Lane. "What it means Chuck… Can I call you Chuck?" he asked.

"Sure," answered Chuck.

"What it means Chuck, is I overheard your little outburst before, and since it struck me as odd that there was a 15 year old kid sitting in this chair asking a Deputy Marshal and his IT consultant if they had looked at the logs, and since I have some pull I get to indulge my curiosity. So I want answers, I don't care about prosecution, because that statement makes me think something bigger was going on so I want you to tell me your story about why you crashed half the Marshals Service's Computer Systems. I have a hunch there's a larger story here, and I want to know what it is. Afterwards, depending on what you tell me other decisions get made, but I need the information first. Because these two insisted on sitting in on this, they will be barred from this case as soon as this conversation is over and prevented from briefing any follow on investigation should there be any."

'So that's why they're so pissed,' Chuck thought. He looked over to his attorney who nodded at him and then left the room. "Ok, what do you want to know?"

Michael smiled causing the other two who still hadn't been introduced to scowl even deeper than they had been. "First things first, what were you doing hacking into the WitSec database?"

"I was trying to find my father," Chuck answered. "He left us about a year ago, and everything we tried to find him has gone nowhere. It's like he got removed from the world. Heck even online sources that I know had information on him have been completely deleted with no evidence that he even existed left. In order to do that you need some serious access and power. You guys do similar stuff for Witness protection so I thought maybe he'd be in your database." Chuck looked down at the table sadly, "He wasn't. It was just another dead end."

"You can't seriously believe this kid can you?" the larger Marshal demanded.

"Control yourself Deputy Cochrane! And what I believe or don't will be based on the story told and the evidence we have. As for the father being missing you already know that, so it's as credible as anything." He turned his attention back to Chuck, "So now why did you crash the WitSec database?"

"It was the only think I could think of that would stop the other hacker in time," was Chucks answer. "He was going through the firewalls like a hot knife through butter, and I figure I had 3, maybe 4 minutes before he was in the database. I was only three quarters of the way through my clean up but I couldn't let him have access to the data, the only thing I could do was grab as much evidence as I could save it off and then shutdown the database and power down the hosts to keep whoever it was from getting in."

"That's bullshit," yelled Cochrane's tech specialist, "There was no other hacker!"

Michael turned his eyes on the tech who also got an elbow to the ribs from Cochrane. "I recommend you stay silent until I give you permission to speak."

He turned back to Chuck, "You said you saved off evidence, where did you save it off?"

"I put it in the database's security log folder. There were about ten files I named 'you were compromised read this now' with a number behind it. They were just text captures of the progress the other hacker was making. Probably wouldn't help much because he was using a bot network, but it was at least a starting place. You guys have better cyber trackers than me to run the search." Chuck answered shrugging his shoulders.

"Can you show me?"

"Sure I can take you right there. Do you have a computer with a connection to the database's file system? I'd rather not hack my way in from right here in front of you."

"I'm sure we can get you one," Michael turned to the tech who glowered at Chuck and then left the room only to come back 2 minutes later carrying a laptop.

"Put it in front of me please. Chuck please give me the directory." Michael said.

The tech gave Chuck a dirty look and then put the laptop in front of Stone.

"Start at the root directory for the database," Chuck began. "Then type cd log/security. You should see the normal files plus the ten I copied in. They should be at the very bottom."

"You didn't notice these files sitting here in your security directory?" Michael asked of a now red faced tech. "Ok Chuck, give me a few minutes and then your lawyer is going to be in with some papers to sign. Once that happens, I'll be back to collect you and take you to a conference room to talk." He got up and ushered Cochrane and his tech out of the room.

True to Michael's word, Mr. Lane was in 5 minutes later but without the stack of papers he was expecting. "Ok Chuck, the Marshals Service is dropping all charges and releasing you. I highly recommend you stay away from this activity in the future. "

"Trust me I am staying far away from government databases from now on," Chuck replied.

"That's not exactly what I was hoping to hear Chuck. In any case the forms you were going to be asked to sign were not going to be legal without a legal guardian signing for you. Deputy Stone swore a bit at that, and then waived the need for the NDA he wanted you to sign. He'd have to read in your guardian on whatever it was you talked about and he felt it was a larger problem doing that than having a legal NDA on file. He did ask me to bring you to him in a conference room down the hall. I can stay through that if you want."

"Thanks, Mr. Lane I appreciate that, but I think I'm probably ok with Deputy Stone, if the other two are in there I'll probably change my mind," Chuck said.

"Ok Chuck, just don't do or say anything stupid."

"I'll try my very best," Chuck replied with some trepidation.

The conference room he was led to was not what he expected. Instead of a standard table surrounded by chairs, it looked like a small movie theater with a large screen on the front wall. Projected on the screen was a man in his late 50s with gray hair, and a sharp, but grandfatherly face. As Chuck entered he was asking a question of Deputy Stone.

"…sure about this Michael?" he asked.

"Yes sir," Stone answered. "I think it might be an answer to that little problem we have."

"Ok, I see that your guest has arrived. Tell him the minimum for now, if he agrees you can read him the rest of the way in later."

The man on the screen now turned his eyes toward Chuck, "Mr. Bartowski, Michael here is going to ask for your assistance. I do not want you to answer today. I want you to take a week to think about it before answering. Michael will call you in a week to get your answer. But I want you to understand, that no matter the answer, the investigation into what you did stopped today. There will be no repercussions beyond what you've already gone through since my people who are now going through those logs you saved off are telling me that you probably saved the database from being compromised. We have no idea how many lives you saved, but certainly there would have been some deaths should that data have come out. We thank you, just make sure you don't do it again without our permission"

'WTH?' thought Chuck. He wanted to ask about that last comment but the man had now turned back to Deputy Stone.

"I'll see you back here tomorrow Michael."

"See you tomorrow sir." With that the connection was closed.

Deputy Stone now turned to Chuck and motioned to the seat in the front row on the aisle. "Take a seat Chuck, I've got a proposition for you."

Chuck sat down in the offered seat and was mildly surprised when Deputy Stone took the seat across the aisle. Instead of looking over at him, however he looked ahead at the screen. "Chuck, we need your help," is what he opened with. "Fortunately or not, the Marshals service isn't very high on the food chain when it comes to getting our hands on the cream of the crop of computer security experts. The NSA and CIA tend to get their hands on the best hackers that end up on the wrong side of the law. They and the FBI tend to get the most talented folks who want to work on the right side of the tracks. What few really good people we get tend to end up with jobs managing and securing our most important data. The problem is, the work my organization does, doesn't involve protecting information. What we really need is somebody who can do what that hacker you stopped can do, but we also need somebody we can trust. Somebody who'll do the right thing even if doing that could cost them personally. I think that somebody is you," he paused for a bit finally turning to look at Chuck.

"Sir," Chuck began.

"Call me Michael, Chuck," he said. "I'm not really one to stand on formality, and neither is the group I work with honestly. The boss is a special case, but he's earned it the hard way, so he's entitled."

"Ok Michael," Chuck said wondering just when he'd fallen into Wonderland, "It took me two hours to hack through the defenses around that database, after months of prep work. The guy I somehow managed to stop, took minutes. I don't think you have the right guy."

"Tell me something Chuck, how many computers do you think that hacker was using to do what he did?"

"I don't know, a few thousand maybe. Bots are pretty easy to propagate, could have been a lot more."

"And how many did you have?"

"Just my laptop," Chuck replied wondering where this was going.

"And if you'd had a much more powerful computer at your disposal?"

"I could probably have done less research and brute forced some of the entries like the other hacker did, actually given enough computing power and the right code? I might be able to do what he did, the thing is why would I? I only wanted into that database for one reason and being invisible was better than speed, if I'd have had the 5 more minutes you would never even have known I was there."

"What if you had the resources and speed was more important than invisibility, could you do it?" Michael asked.

"Maybe, maybe even better. But again why would I?" Chuck asked again.

"Because bad guys hide behind computer systems too, and sometimes we need to go through the computer systems before we can get to the people behind them." Michael was looking him in the eyes now. "Ok, that's about all I can say right now, but here's what we want you to consider. We want you to come work for us this summer. Your summer vacation starts in three weeks. We would like you to accept a consulting position to build us a system that can do what that other hacker did, better if you can. We need a toolbox and somebody to maintain it that can break through electronic defenses and let us get to the bad guys. I think the person who can give that to us is you."

"What if you're wrong, what if I can't do it?" Chuck asked.

"Well then, you had a summer job, and we tried, just because you try something doesn't mean you win Chuck. We'll pick up the pieces and try again just like we would with any other failed project. But I don't think you're going to fail."

There was a knock at the door, and a woman walked in. "Ah, Deputy Rivers, here's your passenger. Please see he makes it home safely," Michael told her standing up. "Do you have the recording and release paperwork for Chuck here?"

She nodded and held up a briefcase.

He turned back to Chuck holding out his hand, "Chuck, Deputy Rivers will drive you home. I'll call you in a week and get your decision. Think about it Chuck, you could help people doing what you do. That's not a small thing."

"Ok, I'll think about it," answered Chuck standing up and shaking Michael's hand. "Out of curiosity, what happens if I say no?"

"Nothing Chuck, this isn't some nefarious offer you can't refuse," Michael said with a grin. "You already did us a pretty big service at considerable personal risk. If I hadn't happened to be here today this could have gone completely differently. Looking at you, you expected it to, and yet you did what you did anyway. That's exceptional Chuck, and we owe you for that not the other way around. I really hope you accept, but if you think you can't or shouldn't, that's ok. This is your decision. Just remember, I know you'll want to talk to your sister about this. Please couch it like a summer internship offer. Say it's a programming contest or something you won. Ok?"

"All right," answered Chuck, "I'll have an answer for you in a week. When are you going to call? And do you have my number?"

"I'll call a week from Monday at 8pm Pacific time and we have your number from the investigation. Sound ok?"

"I can work with it. Thank you Michael," he said as he followed Deputy Rivers out the door.

"No, thank you Chuck," Michael called after him.

* * *

"So he called me that following Monday and I took the job," Chuck told Sarah who was still curled in his arms. "That summer was an interesting time. I'd never really been away from home on my own. Michael and his family hosted me. They sort of became a second family. When he explained to me what it was they really did there, I could hardly believe it. Even after they brought me into the base and gave me the tour. I think I spent every hour I could for two months working on that first system. The first operational test that was something, but that's another story. The bonus from it though was staggering. I had no idea I had been contracted to deliver the system not just as manpower, the bonus for coming in under time and under budget was staggering, I basically had my own scholarship to Stanford and then some after that first summer. When the summer was up I was offered a part time consulting job to maintain it and generally help out wherever I could. I've never really looked back."

"So let me get this straight. At the age of 15, you hacked into Witsec's database, and instead of going to jail you were set free with no strings and a purely optional job offer?"

"Yep, honestly if Michael hadn't been there that day I'm not sure what would have happened, but he had a need that he thought I could fill. I've always wondered why he didn't force the issue and not really give me the choice, but the answer to that is it just wasn't in his nature or the culture of the team. We go looking for volunteers exclusively. If you don't want to work with us, we absolutely cannot allow you near anything important. What we do is too dangerous and critical to have anybody onboard who isn't completely dedicated to the mission. That doesn't mean you can't have a life outside the mission, it just means we want you doing this because you believe and understand that if you half ass it good people die."

"Seems like a hell of a load to put on a teenager," Sarah said.

"Well he didn't really couch it in those terms," Chuck said with a smile. "In fact we almost never explain it. It's something you can either see in the person doing his job or you can't. The people who have to depend on you make the call in the end. If you can't be counted on you don't last long with us. In my case, they were ordering me to take breaks, and leave the base. I'm also pretty sure they were breaking the child labor laws, but I was having a blast building that first system so I was working every chance I could get. Michael's wife Natalie finally drew the line when I tried to get him to take me in on the third weekend in a row so I could keep working. I have no idea what happened in that discussion, and according to Michael I never want to, but after that, I was allowed to be on base 10 hours a day on weekdays only, but I was supposed to take at least an hour break at lunch, and a couple of other half hour breaks during the day. I usually managed to cut those down to just a half hour and two 15 minute breaks, but they had one of the operations desk people make sure I took at least that."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Sarah asked with a smile.

"Because even though we haven't known each other very long, I'd like to think we know each other pretty well," answered Chuck. "At least where it really counts."

"If you're referring to our extracurricular activities. I can attest you seem to know me pretty well, at least in the biblical sense," Sarah said with a giggle.

Chuck froze for a second trying to process that, causing Sarah to laugh even harder. "After all we've done in the last 24 hours that still causes your brain to crash? Really?"

Chuck shook off the effects of naughty Sarah and grinned back at her, "Give it a few decades for the novelty to wear off. Then you might stop having that effect on me, but I'm not counting on it."

"I think we've rested enough," Sarah replied, rolling him onto his back.


	16. Chapter 16

_A/N: Sorry for the long delay between chapters, I'd love to say it will get better after this but I refuse to lie. I will do what I can. Thanks to all of you who have read, followed, favorited and especially reviewed. I do appreciate it and do try to respond to reviews, problaby not all that timely recently sorry about that too. There's not a lot of movement in this chapter, you'll see why in the A/N at the end._

_Standard disclaimers apply, I don't own Chuck and I'm not making any money at this, just having some fun in somebody else's sandbox._

_If you're looking for canon you're welcome to stay and hopefully have some fun, but really by now, you should know better. If you're looking for cannon, this chapter's projectile thrower comes from batty who recommends the two 8-inch coastal defence guns a Ft. Abercrombie on Kodiak Alaska. They're still located in their original location, if you're looking for a bit of WWII history as well._

* * *

It had been a very busy week. Sherrie had called the day after they had shared their first stories, and they hadn't stopped moving since. Chuck had to give it to Sarah, she had come up with a simple and convincing cover story. Chuck was being assigned using his normal cover with his sister as an IT consultant to assist in a non-existent avionics project at Edwards Air Force base. Casey was being assigned as an Air Force Major in charge of the testing program on the same project, his physical therapy was an excellent excuse to have him transferred to a desk job. Sarah was "hired" as the civilian project manager a perfect cover given her degree from Harvard.

While Anna worked the logistics, and Sarah the covers, Chuck was managing construction on the two substations, and the necessary systems to perform the mission at hand. Casey would be helping with that once he was read in. It was going to take over a month to build everything and get it running, and until they had the infrastructure in place they couldn't start the mission of being bait without unacceptable risks.

Chuck and Sarah had also been searching for living quarters they could quietly purchase and have renovated to their needs. This was harder than they had anticipated because the decision was made that it would be unsafe to have civilians living in or around the complex should it become a target. What they'd ended up finding was a Malibu mansion that had been seized by the IRS. The land was big enough and the population density was about as low as they could hope for given where they trying to base out of. As a bonus, they were close enough to the beach to use it as an emergency extraction point, and Point Mugu NAS was a quick trip up Pacific Coast Highway which gave them a secure airport to shuttle to Edwards from. They were half-way through a complete demolition and rebuild into a complex not unlike the one his sister lived in albeit with heavily reinforced and armored walls and roofs, as well as some really heavy firepower in concealed strong points. Once they were done, Chuck and Sarah would move into one unit, and Casey would have another. A full time security staff would have the four upper level corner units where a good chunk of the firepower was going to be located, leaving several more empty units should they ever become necessary. The facilities below ground were nothing to be sneezed at either.

Today was going to be interesting, since Casey was out of the hospital, and the scheduling worked out, he was going to be read in. Sherrie had decided to actually fly in to do the read in personally since it really wasn't easy to fly Casey in even in the Dragon with his restrictions. The read in would happen at Edwards in a secure conference room. Chuck and Sarah had picked up Casey from the hospital in an armored handicap accessible van and the three of them were on their way to Edwards.

"So are you two going to tell me what's going on, or are you just going to leave me sitting here like the little fat kid who didn't get picked for the team?" Casey growled.

"I can safely say that you have been picked for the team Casey," was Chuck's response. "But that's the second time you've used that analogy, and I'm thinking there might be some childhood issues you might want to talk to somebody about."

"Shut it Bartowski, not all of us have a need to wear our lady feelings on our sleeves," was Casey's angry retort.

Chuck glanced quickly at Sarah and gave her a wink and a smile, "That sounds suspiciously like denial Casey."

"If you weren't driving I'd bludgeon you into unconsciousness with a crutch."

"Guess it's good that they have you in a wheelchair then," Sarah said looking over her shoulder at Casey with a smile. "Don't stress out about it you'll be read in just as soon as we get to the conference room and Sherrie shows up." Turning to Chuck she asked, "How long are we likely to wait for her to get here?"

"Anna's been keeping me up to date on her schedule, and while she's running a little late this traffic isn't doing us any favors either. She might be waiting for us when we get there."

* * *

True to Chuck's prediction, when they rolled Casey into the conference room, Sherrie was sitting there waiting for them. "How's the leg Major?" she asked.

"Still a little sore ma'am, but I'll be good to go in a few weeks," He replied sitting up straighter.

"John, I believe you were in the room when I told Sarah that nobody calls me ma'am unless things have gone to hell, but I'll let it slide until we finish the briefing," she said with a smile.

"Yes ma'a.. I mean Sherrie," was Casey's reply, obviously Sherrie's informality was confusing him.

Sherrie turned to Chuck and Sarah, "Things going ok with you two?"

"Yep," said Chuck sitting in his normally slouched briefing pose. "We're more or less on target for construction, we may miss by a day or two or come in a day or two early, can't be sure either way right now."

"Sarah?" Sherrie asked.

Sarah was sitting in a slightly more relaxed version of attention that had historically been her briefing posture. "The backgrounds on our permanent covers are pretty solid at this point. I'm also teaching your operations staff how to build covers that will stand up depending on the timeframes we need to use them for. Once we go operational we probably won't have the time for me to do all this so we're going to be relying on them."

"So that explains the weird competition going on in the ops center. I've been trying to figure out why there have been some really strange background checks going on in the vetting room. They even have a scoreboard. I think you have started a war between my logistics team and my vetting team."

"Sorry about that Sherrie, that's my fault, I asked vetting to check some of the IDs to see how long it took to break them. That's important to know if we are going to use them," Sarah explained.

"Actually it's not a bad exercise all around. If they can't break one we know we have a hole in the vetting process. Good test all around," Sherrie said with a smile.

"if everything goes as planned they'll be able to create a cover that will be solid for 24 hours in less than 2, and one that should last indefinitely in less than 24."

"Good to know," said Sherrie turning back to Casey. "Now to why we're really here. John, we have a problem, and I'd like to walk you through it and then have you join the team that is trying to fix it. But first, there's some paperwork."

* * *

An hour later, Casey was staring at Sherrie, Chuck and Sarah with something like horror coupled to determination in his eyes. "You're saying that all of the intelligence agencies have been infiltrated?"

"That's what the evidence is telling us," Sherrie replied. "CIA, NSA and DEA for certain, FBI is very likely. The good news is they seem to be mostly leaving the military alone except for some recruiting of some of the folks that shouldn't even be in the military. They aren't leaving them in though, they pull them out to use for their own purposes so far as we can tell."

"That seems short sighted," Casey responded.

"Not really, they're looking for a mostly bloodless coup. If the civilian agencies and government are suborned, will the military likely attack our government?"

"You have a point there, it's pretty unlikely unless somebody has irrefutable proof, and even then it's going to take something seriously important to make them move against a sitting government," was his answer.

"So are you in?" Sherrie asked him. Chuck and Sarah attempted to disguise their interest in the answer while waiting intently to see what his response would be.

After a moment Casey responded, "Ok, I'm in, but I report to General Beckman, how is that going to work?"

Sherrie broke into a smile, "Actually you won't report to her, you'll report to me."

That brought Casey up short, "What?!"

"NSA isn't an operational government agency. You'll be seconded to the Marshals Service for the duration of the operation, however long that is. Given your rank, you like Sarah and Chuck are going to report directly to me. That said, I want you to maintain your ties to the NSA and General Beckman. We need that line of communication open, just like Sarah is maintaining her lines of communication with the CIA and Director Graham."

Sarah didn't bat an eye at this, but Chuck could feel the tension radiate off of her at the mention of her mentor's name. He surreptitiously reached over and placed his hand on her arm hoping to calm her. She didn't make any outward changes again, but he could feel her relax slightly and removed his hand. If Casey or Sherrie noticed neither said anything.

"We will of course be controlling that flow," Sherrie continued. "For example we are not going to tell her what the real operation is."

"Do we suspect her?" Casey asked. He'd worked for the General for a long time and while he couldn't say he exactly trusted her, he has always trusted that she had the good of the country at heart.

"Not really, but that doesn't mean we can trust the people around her, and the only way to control what information gets out is to control what we put out there. Once it's out of our hands we no longer have control," Sherrie explained.

"So wait, we're going to use a need to know argument against the head of the NSA?" Casey actually looked shocked and yet somehow amused by this, he'd never been able to use that excuse on a superior before.

"No, we're simply not going to tell her the things she doesn't have a need to know about. We'll have to be careful with covers for actions she might get wind of, but you're simply going to omit anything she doesn't need to know out of your reports." Sherrie explained.

"I'm not entirely sure I like this idea," Casey said blowing out a breath, "And how exactly do you fit in? The Marshals Service doesn't seem like the right choice to be investigating the intelligence agencies."

"Well, actually the regular Marshals Service isn't going to be involved except if we need large numbers of deputies to be making arrests at some point, but we're not exactly the regular Marshals Service."

"What do you mean?" asked Casey with a very confused look on his face.

"Let me tell you a story about a mission that failed…"

* * *

"So let me see if I understand this correctly," Casey was having a hard time coming to terms with the information he'd just received. "Your organization is some sort of rescue service for all the other federal agencies? How does something like that even work?"

"Surprisingly well actually," Sherrie answered, "even if I do say so myself. We're not very big, but we spend a lot on force multipliers and training. We don't' get to plan all that often so we take people who can think on their feet, and mold them into what we need them to be, then turn them loose. We don't win every time, but our record would speak for itself if anybody was in a position to look at it that is," she finished with a predatory smile that made Casey a bit uncomfortable although he couldn't say why.

"Ok, so if I join up, what would I be doing, specifically?" Casey asked.

"To start with," Sherrie answered, "I want you to take over the construction oversight of the base here at Edwards. I'll assign you one of my operations staff rookies to assist you until you can get around on your own. You are NOT to do anything the rehab specialist you're working with tells you not to. Once you are cleared for active duty I'll probably roll that asset into the additional staff the team will be getting once the bases are operational. After you're up and active we'll start putting you in the field with Chuck and Sarah as the core of the team we discussed earlier to try and weed out Fulcrum. There will be missions for Graham and Beckman, as well as for me, but they'll all come through me before they get approved. In addition I'd expect you three to use your own initiative to work up plans for exposing and taking down both the traitors in our midst and the organization that is running them. I'm sure there will be more, but those are the broad strokes."

Casey thought about it for about another 15 seconds and then answered the question they'd all been wondering about, "Ok, I'm in."

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that Casey," said Sherrie some relief actually showing on her face. "And with that, I need to head back to base before something really important explodes." She stood up, as did Chuck and Sarah. After a round of less formal conversation, Sherrie took her leave gathering up the security team that had come with her as she left the room and returned to her plane for the flight back to Scott.

"So anything you want to know before we head over to the facility we have under construction here?" asked Chuck.

"So you two are mixing chocolate and peanut butter huh?" Casey stated in question format.

Chuck flushed red, while a confused Sarah asked, "What does that even mean?"

"Don't worry your boy toy there just gave up the goods. You're going to have to work on that with him. He'll never survive if he doesn't hide his responses better than that," was Casey's answer with a smirk on his face. If he'd been allowed a cigar here he would've taken it out and lit it in satisfaction but he wasn't, more's the pity. He even had the perfect Costa Gravan handmade bit of tobacco perfection to go with this particular victory, but he was sure his two partners would give him a chance to light it up at some time in the future so he just filed it away. Unfortunately his moment would be short lived in the shock of the next words to come out of his target's mouth.

Chuck decided he didn't much like Casey's tone. His eyes went cold as he stared Casey down, "Major, my responses tend to be made with either 30mm or caliber .50 exclamation points, and significant property damage. It's the other guy's survival you really ought to be worrying about. My skillset is NOT keeping the bad guys alive for future interrogation. You might want to remember that should it become necessary."

They say confidence is the feeling you get when you don't fully understand the situation. Casey was thinking about the truth of this statement as he tried unsuccessfully to keep the surprise off his face.

"I doubt it will be a problem on mission," interjected Sarah. Trying to head off Chuck before he decided to provide a demonstration to Casey. "He's perfectly capable of keeping secrets, you just caught him off guard."

"And yes," she said with a glare at Casey daring him to say a single word, "Chuck and I are dating, we just try not to rub it in everyone's faces."

Chuck couldn't help the huge grin he got when Sarah made that declaration for the first time ever. It might have been the best thing he'd ever heard. He completely forgot why he was mad at Casey.

Casey took one look at Chuck and Sarah and decided discretion was the better part of valor, and retreated with the remnants of the victory he'd already earned. He'd known Walker's reputation and he wasn't sure if he could take her when healthy, much less laid up in a wheelchair. And it was becoming obvious that he hadn't received anything like an appropriate briefing on what Chuck was capable of.

"Ok, good to know, don't let it get in the way on missions and we should be fine," Casey said. "So I know Walker by reputation, but what is it you do exactly Bartowski?"

"Depends on the mission," answered Chuck leaning back and spinning his chair slowly left and right. "I started as tech ops and still am I guess, but generally these days I'm usually providing close air support and battlespace superiority as well and insertion and dust-off if necessary. I can hum a few bars for direct assault and keep up with the actual assault teams if I'm tasked to do so, but that's not really my strong suit."

"Could have fooled me," said Sarah smirked.

"Ok, I'll admit that one was a bit of a gray area," Chuck responded seriously.

Sarah had expected a self-deprecating humorous response. The serious response kind of threw her.

"I'm missing something here," Casey tried to break in.

"When I was captured, I was being held in a warehouse by a team of North Korean commandos and interrogators," Sarah answered rejoining the conversation. "Chuck blew through the wall of the building killed every single hostile and then got out of his car and shot the handcuffs off the pipe I had been hanging from," Sarah answered. "I think that counts as a pretty decent assault."

"Wait, what?" Casey was now completely confused.

"I'll admit, it probably looked pretty impressive," Chuck said with a sigh, ignoring Casey for the moment, "but the actual assault teams do that kind of thing without the high tech arsenal I have built into the Charger and aren't stopped by little things like stairs. If they'd had you on the second floor it might have been an entirely different outcome." Chuck responded, he had already had this thought and he really didn't want to go through it again. "If I'm going in with one of the assault teams, it's generally because there's something I need to hack through or into in order to complete the mission. I've been trained to work with the teams, but I'm hardly at their level."

"That's not what Sherrie seems to think," was Sarah's response.

"Unfortunately Sherrie's opinion on the matter isn't really all that objective. She sees me through the filter of a specific mission, which I'm not ready to tell you about yet," Chuck said with a faraway look in his eyes as he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands under the conference room table. "I was punching way above my weight that day. I doubt I'd ever be able to duplicate that performance."

Sarah had noticed the haunted look that he got occasionally when he talked about the past. She wasn't sure what had scarred him, but the old mental wound was pretty obvious and she could relate to that, so she'd give him some time. "You don't have to tell us Chuck," she said leaning forward taking his hand and giving it a squeeze, "but after dealing with her for a while now, I really kind of doubt she doesn't see you objectively. I'll take your word for it for now though." Chuck gave her hand a squeeze back and released it.

"Wait, go back to the part about Chuck wiping out a warehouse full of North Korean commandos," Casey demanded leaning forward glaring at Chuck. "I think that's something I need to know about."

"Not really much to tell, I can get you the recordings to review if you like," replied Chuck leaning back, but keeping eye contact with Casey. "I put a tracer on Zarnow's car before he could get away, then after getting the tourniquet on you, I armored up, and followed him to where they were going to interrogate Sarah. Once there I performed a vehicular entry through the really flimsy wall of the warehouse, verified Sarah's position and let the technology do the work from there. I don't want to sound blasé but it's kind of what we do. Not saying there weren't risks, and that it couldn't have gone horribly wrong. We already did the after action reviewl and determined that what I did had the highest percentage success rate. I would have been safer to wait for backup which was 5 minutes out, but that 5 minutes would probably have seen Sarah's interrogation begin, and given what we saw there, that was a less desirable outcome."

"Can I get some clarification on what you meant by you let the technology do the work?" Casey asked. "It seems to me that was a pretty big hole in the story."

"I'll get you the tapes and the after action reports, they'll answer all your questions," Chuck said waving his hand dismissively. "Otherwise we're just going to go around in circles you asking questions and me not answering them to your satisfaction. If you have any questions after that you can ask me ok?"

"Ok, but reports almost never tell the whole story," Casey grumped leaning back in his chair with his arm crossed.

"Actually ours do, they mostly consist of the video of the events, the after action review and the observations of our personnel during the action. We're very complete, have to be given what we do. If we go off the reservation it could have too many local and international ramifications. Any other questions?"

"Quite a few actually but that's enough for right now. I'll ask them as I think they become important. I figure by the time I get back in the saddle I'll have gotten most of the answers out of you," Casey responded.

"Great," exclaimed Chuck. "Then let's get over to the facility on base here are start getting you up to speed so you can take over the construction oversight."

With that Chuck and Sarah stood up and Chuck moved over to Casey's wheelchair.

* * *

_A/N2: I was of two minds about this chapter. I had originally planned on having Casey's read in happen off screen, but I got a few requests for it so I decided to put it in. I'm still having trouble with Casey, my story is drifting far enough from canon now he's kind of in the way at the moment, but he's too good to give up on yet. I think once he gets a partner this will all be worth it but right now he's kind of tough to write. _

_Next time we revisit the Tango. That may be awhile, I moved the timeline around and it isn't ready yet. Sorry in advance for the delay._


End file.
